A litmus test of e-commerce's ability to serve

The big screen shows sales volume during the Nov 11 Singles' Day shopping spree at Alibaba's headquarters in Hangzhou city, East China's Zhejiang province, on Nov 11 2014. [Photo/Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Singles Day, celebrated on Nov 11, has become not only China's answer to Cyber Monday in the United States but also the world's biggest shopping spree.

It was reported that Alibaba's customers spent a total of $9.3 billion on the company's two e-stores last Singles Day, up significantly from the full-day tally of $5.8 billion in 2013.

This year, in addition to all the lavish commercials, China's e-commerce giants have even decided to stage a spectacular TV show, a potential rival to the Spring Festival Gala.

Will this year's annual online sales day bonanza set a new record? It's almost a sure bet, the answer will be yes.

Statistics show that China's online retail soared to 2.59 trillion yuan ($409 billion) in the first three quarters of this year, up 36.2 percent over the same period last year. Since the top e-commerce giants have the lion's share of the country's e-retail, they will definitely benefit more than others from Chinese consumers' growing appetite for online shopping.

Yet, will they be able to turn the event into an engine for both their bottom lines and the country's long-term campaign to boost domestic consumption?

There are certainly good signs that China's e-giants can ride a steady and sustained growth of domestic consumption.

China's per capital GDP has reached about $8,000. If the world's second-largest economy continues to grow by no less than 6.5 percent annually in the coming five years, it is more than likely that consumption will play an even bigger role in driving economic growth than the 58.4 percent it contributed to China's GDP growth in the first three quarters of this year.