Why Fonterra accepted defeat in the dairy aisle
OPINION: Fonterra's sale of its consumer dairy business to Lactalis is a clear sign of the co-operative’s failure to compete in the branded consumer market.
The day is the world’s largest single-day online shopping event, with total sales of $12.5 million in 24 hours across the Anchor, Anmum and Anlene brands – up 44% on last year.
Double 11, timed to coincide with China’s ‘Single’s Day’ holiday, launched in 2009 and has grown rapidly to become the biggest day on the global retail calendar. According to data from Syntun, China’s 16 largest e-commerce merchants achieved a combined $36.3 billion in sales this year.
E-commerce director for Fonterra Greater China, Xiao Lu, says the scale and competitiveness of Double 11 requires a strategic and innovative approach.
“More than 100,000 merchants participated this year, so competition is fierce,” says Lu. “We put a lot of energy into a smart strategy that ensured we engaged consumers well.
“Our team ran a number of innovative warm-up campaigns, which included live-stream broadcasts and interactive online ‘shopping towns’. This helped us to build momentum as the shopping day approached.”
The number of consumers who purchased Fonterra products was up 56% on last year, with the purchasing rate lifting an impressive 3,800% compared with the daily average.
Online sales of Anchor UHT milk were particularly successful, with a total volume of two million litres sold. Milk powder pouches were another favourite with 270,000 pouches sold, enough to stretch from Auckland to Hamilton if the packaging was laid end-to-end.
Chief operating officer of global consumer and foodservice, Jacqueline Chow, says the popularity of Double 11 is impressive and highlights the notable growth of e-commerce in China.
“E-commerce is an opportunity that we are working hard to capitalise upon, so this year’s growth figures are pleasing,” says Chow.
The total Double 11 sales volume of NZD $36.3 billion broke records set in previous years. Alibaba contributed $24.6 billion through its popular Tmall and Taobao platforms and at the day’s peak Alibaba was processing 175,000 orders every second.
Fonterra launched its e-commerce presence in China in 2012 when the Anlene Tmall flagship store was first introduced. This is the fourth year that Fonterra has participated in the Double 11 event.
