Executive Summary

• This week’s note “From the Desk of Deborah Weinswig” recaps the recent Singles’ Day shopping holiday and considers how Alibaba differentiates the shopping festival from conventional retail events.
• Total US retail sales rose by 0.8% in October, suggesting a healthy profile for the US retail industry ahead of the holiday shopping season. Retailers are racing to promote their holiday sales after delaying their marketing efforts due to the presidential election.
• French department store Printemps is introducing mobile payment service Alipay to draw more Chinese customers into its stores. The retailer expects to roll out Alipay to 18 stores by the end of the year.
• Argentinian President Mauricio Macri has introduced policies that have unleashed a retail sales boom—not in Argentina, but in neighboring Chile. Since Macri removed exchange controls in December, Argentinians have begun crossing the border in masses to seek bargains in Chile, where three years of sluggish economic growth have weighed on retail sales.