<strong>As the market gets more competitive, retailers are looking for new sales opportunities in niche markets.</strong> Singles Day (Nov 11) is expected to draw 100 million new shoppers via mobile devices. According to Alibaba, greater data analysis is helping major platforms and key brands identify the ‘right product for the right consumer’. The leading e-commerce platforms have also started to drill down and are now encouraging brands to develop special products that target specific demographics. <p style="padding-left: 40px;"><strong>• So Many Choices.</strong> Over 200,000 brands will be participating in the Nov 11 shopping extravaganza, with 1 million new products for sale and over 500 million users projected to join the mega shopping event, first launched in 2009, Jiang Fan, president of Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall platforms, told local media.</p> <p style="padding-left: 40px;"><strong>• Buy Now! </strong> Alibaba said in 2018 seven brands broke the 100 million yuan ($14.1 million) threshold in the first 10 minutes of presales online.</p> <p style="padding-left: 40px;"><strong>• Brand Bonanza! </strong> Alibaba aimed to recruit 400 new foreign brands for the campaign and debut 3,000 products exclusively on the platform.</p> <p style="padding-left: 40px;"><strong>• Detailed Data.</strong> Consumer insights generated from the wealth of data generated are lending a hand in incubating sought-after items, while virtual storefronts stand to offer personalized content and product promotions based on customer profiles.</p> <p style="padding-left: 40px;"><strong>• Going Local.</strong> Alibaba is now focusing on tapping into the wealth of shoppers from less influential but fast-developing cities and townships.</p> <p style="padding-left: 40px;"><strong>• Small Matters.</strong> Over 70 percent of Alibaba's new active consumers came from lower-tier cities in the last quarter, according to its latest financial results.</p> <p style="padding-left: 40px;"><strong>• Brand Opportunities.</strong> Cosmetics giant L'Oreal Group launched a newly developed facial cream last year targeting what is called the "small town youth" group, saw sales of 100,000 containers on the first day of its launch.</p> <p style="padding-left: 40px;"><strong>• The Price for The Right Market. </strong> JD.com said it plans to access more than 500 million consumers in lower-tier cities and sell about 1.2 billion products at a lower price and 200 million customized products during this year's shopping bonanza.</p> Young consumers from rural or suburban areas are a demographic group that is poised to be the next pocket for growth, thanks to their readiness for online shopping and ability to engage freely in discretionary spending, according to Wang Wei, a senior partner of McKinsey. "The group tends to value social engagement, which could come in the form of referral programs, endorsements by influencers as well as special edition products," he said. The festival is no longer an occasion for bargain hunters seeking budget items but instead is an opportunity to explore and become immersed in novel offerings, experts said. As China's online spending rises, great hopes have been pinned on the sector amid the country's overall slowing economic growth, which dropped to 6 percent in the third quarter from 6.4 in the first quarter in terms of year-on-year GDP growth. China's online sales reached $1.03 trillion in the first nine months, up 16.8 percent year-on-year, more than double the overall brick-and-mortar and online retail sales growth in the same period, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.