China’s shoppers are gloomy and picky
They want to spend on pets and sports, not makeup or perfume
Five years ago Jack Ma, the founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba, briefly tried his hand at selling lipstick. To promote China’s largest online shopping festival, called “Singles’ Day”, Mr Ma attempted to sell more lipstick in five minutes than Li Jiaqi, a live-streaming salesman known as the “Lipstick King”. The king won.
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This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Bromptons, not blusher”
From the November 18th 2023 edition
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