Brenda Goh and Josh Horwitz

SHANGHAI, (Reuters) – Alibaba The annual “Singles Day” shopping spree by the Group is expected to take on a more serious tone this year than ever before. This retail giant promotes sustainability over hyping sales, despite calls from Beijing for “common prosperity”.

Alibaba launched the 2020 edition of the World’s Biggest Online Shopping Festival. It transformed the one-day November 11 event to an eleven-day celebration with celebrities and live tracking of sales metrics. In the end, it announced that the company had received $74 Billion in orders or its ‘gross product value (GMV) flashing bright.

It is a moment of increased regulatory scrutiny for China’s top companies, such as Alibaba. The call to promote common prosperity and reduce excesses echos around the boardrooms. Alibaba will officially promote “sustainable development and inclusiveness” in 2021.

Although livestreaming celebrities and deep discounts are still a major part of this year’s celebrations, the company stated that its priority this year was encouraging eco-friendly consumption and supporting vulnerable populations.

Chris Tung, chief marketing officer at Alibaba said that the company has been shifting its focus away from sustainable growth and pure GMV growth. When asked by reporters if Alibaba intended to display the final GMV figure in 2018, he didn’t answer.

China’s major e-commerce platforms, especially Alibaba and Jack Ma, have seen a dramatic change in their environment as President Xi Jinping targets “platform economies” that were perceived as abuses or excesses.

Chinese regulators stated last week they instructed e-commerce sites not to allow spam to be spread in advance of Singles’ Day. The Chinese regulators also created a list of obligations it expects platform companies to adhere to, which is the latest of several regulatory directives.

Alibaba has responded in spite of the increasing regulatory burden.

In September it announced that 100 billion yuan (or $16 billion) would be invested by the end of 2025 to promote “common prosperity”. Meanwhile, in October it introduced a Taobao platform for senior citizens.

It also stated that it will be working with partners to develop products with a lower carbon footprint and that it pledged charitable donations in conjunction with some of its purchases for Singles Day.

Reuters asked the article’s author if it thought that 11.11 (Singles Day), was a powerful platform which we can fully leverage in order to promote and drive ESG initiatives (environmental. social. and governance).

Alibaba-owned South China Morning Post published last week unnamed officials saying that Singles’ Day will not be focused on the “typical showcases sales, marketing, and consumption” during a report on Jack Ma’s European study tour to follow his “passion for technology” in agriculture.

The event will still generate sales for merchants, as Chinese consumers search for bargains amid slower economic growth. Alibaba stated that more than 290,000. brands were expected to participate, and Tmall would have over 14,000,000 deals.

($1 = 6.4033 renminbi)