the world. Thousands of Chinese online consumers are

clicking away before the day is up... and THIS is prompting Korean exporters to customize

marketing strategies － at least for today － for the Chinese local market.

Our Shin Se－min has this story. It was an impressive start.

E－commerce giant Alibaba Group logged over three－point－nine billion U.S. dollars

in the first hour of China′s Singles′ Day.

And the mega－retailer′s total gross merchandise volume keeps on climbing，... as the 24－hour

deadline approaches. November 11th， eleven－eleven， started

out as an obscure event in the 1990s，… where the country′s bachelors and the bachelorettes

celebrated being single. But in 2009， Alibaba turned it into an e－commerce

phenomenon，… with sales reaching nearly 9－billion dollars last year， all through

online shopping. It′s much like the U.S.′ Cyber Monday

or Black Friday，… except the size of Singles′ Day sales is FOUR－TIMES that of Cyber Monday.

On this day last year，… Alibaba raked in total sales worth over 10－trillion won，…

or eight－point－six billion dollars，… which is 100 times more than what all Korean

online retailers combined have made in China in the past five years.

″China′s online retail market only takes up 10－percent of the entire domestic market，…

a minimal portion for now. But the speed of growth is so fast it′s hard to predict.″

Ranging from electronic goods to clothing，… the sales event also brings in over five－thousand

overseas brand from 25 countries，… including Korea， U.S. and Japan.

It′s one of the better ways to publicize Korean brands to some 20－percent of the

world′s entire population online，... during a 24－hour window.

″In order to turn this mega－sales event into a long－term opportunity，... local

exporters need to better come up with marketing tactics targeting specific age groups， mostly

those in their 20s and 30s，... and particular regions.″

″With China rebalancing its economy to one based on consumer spending，... following

its slowing economic growth，... it has become much clearer，... that Korean exporters...

mulling over options to restructure their export strategies should put heavier emphasis

on shipping consumer goods to China. Shin Se－min， Arirang News.″