Pre-orders on Alibaba’s Tmall in the last week of October were flat from a year earlier and the number of merchants participating in pre-sales has dropped by 18% compared with 2021, according to new Singles Day data from research firm YipitData reported in South China Morning Post on Wednesday. The report noted that many foreign brands were seeing better figures than their Chinese counterparts amid a slowing macro economic outlook. For its part, Alibaba had already stated that this year’s Singles Day would see a focus on brand loyalty more than overall sales, with the Chinese e-commerce giant saying its brand loyalty membership program has become the driving force for sales growth. According to Alibaba’s own statistics, 182 brands including Nike, P&G, and The North Face registered more than RMB 100 million in member-generated GMV on Nov. 1. The company also said that brands on Tmall had added more than 66 million new members during the pre-sale period of this year’s festival. [SCMP]