11/11: All About Singles’ Day
There’s no denying it: celebrating the joys of being single is always a good idea. In fact, a whole day is dedicated to him! This unofficial holiday, known as Singles Day or 11/11, was launched by Chinese university students as “Anti-Valentine’s Day”. That way, singles would proudly celebrate their status every November 11th – not mourn.
But what started as an excuse for bachelors to enjoy being single turned into the world’s biggest online shopping day. With special promotions and lots of entertainment for buyers, sales on Singles Day achieved record numbers – more than sales on Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Amazon Prime Day.
Whether you are happily single or in a committed relationship, Singles Day is the perfect opportunity for you to get amazing discounts and indulge in some well-deserved shopping therapy.
Read the full post to find out everything about Singles’ Day – from its evolution into a global phenomenon to reasons why you should keep an eye on it in 2021.
Everything you need to know about Singles Day
What is Singles’ Day
Singles’ Day is an unofficial holiday created to celebrate people who are not in a relationship. Singles’ Day, also known as Double 11 and Bachelor’s Day, has become the largest physical retail and online shopping day in the world and is bigger than Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Before Singles’ Day turned into a massive one-day shopping event, the date was an excuse for people in China to celebrate their single status instead of getting upset about not being in a relationship.
How did it start
Singles’ Day was created in 1993 at Nanjing University in China. At that time, four single male students decided to honor their solitude by creating a special day of events and celebrations for people who were not in a relationship.
The November 11 (11:11) date was chosen because it resembles four individual sticks, which is online Chinese slang for an unmarried man.
The celebration spread to universities across China, leading singles to indulge in a variety of activities, such as having dinner, hanging out with friends, and more.
While Singles Day began celebrating the joys of being single, the date soon turned into a huge shopping event thanks to the marketing efforts of Chinese retailer Alibaba. In 2009, the e-commerce giant launched its first Singles’ Day event, which coincided with the unofficial Chinese holiday.
Alibaba’s shopping vacation quickly surpassed Black Friday sales and was home to thousands of major brands including Apple, Nike, Adidas, and Estée Lauder, among others.
The main reasons why Singles’ Day became the top-selling shopping day of the year worldwide? On the one hand the sheer size of the Chinese consumer market, on the other hand the fact that Alibaba has taken up the idea of “self-care” to promote sales.
Who is taking part in Singles’ Day?
In addition to discounts and real-time flash deals, Single’s Day also offers its customers larger-than-life entertainment. The shopping event features an extravagant opening gala with performances by artists such as Taylor Swift, Pharrell Williams and performances by celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Nicole Kidman and Mariah Carey, alongside Chinese celebrities.
With Singles Day becoming the biggest online shopping day of the year, more than doubling Cyber Monday in 2012, more brands and customers were eager to attend year after year.
Giants like Apple, L’Oréal, Haier, Estée Lauder, Nike, Huawei, Midea, Lancôme, Xiaomi and Adidas were among the brands that exceeded 100 million RMB (more than $ 15 billion) in 2020 .
According to Alibaba, the gross value of goods during that period was $ 74.1 billion, up 26% over the same period in 2019.
Which countries celebrate Singles’ Day?
Over the years, Singles Day has extended beyond China, and as it became popular over the internet, it is now celebrated in multiple locations. While it’s especially popular in Southeast Asia, several e-commerce sites around the world are participating.
Brief information on Singles’ Day
Singles Day is also known as “Bare Sticks Holiday”
The date 11:11 was chosen because it resembles 4 solitary bare sticks.
Single’s Day is the biggest shopping holiday in the world
In 2020, more than 250,000 brands and around 800 million buyers took part in Singles Day.
Annual sales on Singles Day exceed Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.
Alibaba’s mobile wallet app broke a record
Alipay broke the record for the most transactions per second at 256,000.
And Singles Day broke a Guinness world record in 2015
It broke the record for the highest online revenue any single company had in 24 hours at $ 14 billion.
In 2020, Alibaba and JD.com had sales of more than $ 100 billion
The Chinese e-commerce giants generated $ 115 billion in revenue on their platforms during Singles Day.
More than 500,000 orders are processed per second
Alibaba was processing 583,000 per second at peak times during the shopping event.
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