What is Singles’ Day in China and how has it Turned into the World’s Largest Shopping Festival?

Singles’ Day was started by four male students at a Chinese university to celebrate singlehood in the 1990s. In 2009, e-commerce giant Alibaba started offering major discounts on 11 November and now it has snowballed into a mega-shopping bonanza, bigger than America’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday

There is no love greater than the love for shopping. China’s Singles’ Day is proof. It’s not only the biggest shopping bonanza in the Communist nation but the largest in the world.

As the name suggests, it’s a day to celebrate singlehood and is observed on 11 November. But the shopping frenzy begins weeks in advance with retailers making billions of dollars.

What is Singles’ Day?

Singles’ Day is an antidote of sorts to Valentine’s Day. Its celebration started in the 1990s when a bunch of university students decided that “singles” need a day of their own.

It is believed to have started at Nanjing University in the Jiangsu province in east China when four single male students decided to celebrate the fact that they do not have a significant other and zeroed in on 11 November.

It started as Bachelor’s Day and became popular on campus, then spread to other universities, where both men and women decided to celebrate singlehood. Soon, it was called Singles’ Day or Double 11 and eventually, the trend caught on through social media.

Why 11 November?

11 November (11/11) was picked by students because the numeral 1 looks like a bare branch. It is the Chinese internet slang for a single/unmarried man who does not add branches to the family tree.

11/11 also appears like four ones or the four singles standing together like the four students who came up with the idea.

How did Singles’ Day turn into a shopping fest?

Like Valentine’s Day, Singles’ Day has also become all about shopping. Those celebrating singlehood started splurging on themselves. It is China’s idea of self-love and a way to rebel against the pressure to find a partner.

It’s not an official holiday in China but has become the largest online shopping day in the world. It became a big commercial event in 2009 when Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba started offering online discounts for 24 hours from midnight on 11 November.

Alibaba’s competitor JD.com also followed the trend. Today, Vipshop Holdings Ltd and Amazon.com Inc also offer promotions during this time.

In 2019, 1,40,000 brands took part in the shopping festival more than 40 per cent more participants than the previous year.

While Alibaba started offering discounts on 11 November, over the years the strategy has evolved. Now, the festival is not restricted to only one day. The sales start weeks before.

Last year, JD began sales in late October while Alibaba started at the beginning of November.

How much do e-retailers make?

In the past 13 years, Singles’ Day has turned into a mega-shopping event beating America’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping days in the United States. According to Techcrunch, Single’s Day is 2.5 times larger than the American shopping holidays combined.

In 2016, Chinese retailers raked in $17.8 billion in 24 hours, triple the $5.9bn spent on Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Thanksgiving combined in the US. Since then, the figures have only increased.

In 2021, both Alibaba and JD.com set records with their Singles’ Day sales. Together they made $139 billion. For Alibaba, gross merchandise volume over 11 days was $84.54 billion in 2021, according to CNBC. This was more than an eight per cent jump from the previous year. JD made 54.6 billion last year, an increase of 28 per cent.

What did people buy last year?

According to CNBC, in 2021, JD saw a big surge in the purchase of luxury goods and pet-related products. iPhone sales were also high.

There was a growth in sales from smaller cities on both Alibaba and JD. Seventy-seven per cent of shoppers on JD belonged to lower-tier markets, the report says.

What is expected this year?

In 2022, Alibaba is offering two million new products and will have an expanded sales window, reports South China Morning Post. However, this year consumers have tightened their budgets.

According to a survey conducted by China Newsweek magazine, nearly 40 per cent of the more than 2,300 respondents said their budgets for the online shopping festival were down by 30 per cent from last year, while only 15 per cent said they plan to spend more, the report says.

This is because of slow growth in the economy, China’s COVID-19 lockdowns and the looming warning of inflation.

Is Singles’ Day only restricted to China?

Not anymore. It is slowly becoming a global phenomenon. Alibaba has extended the reach of Single’s Day to Southeast Asia through its Lazada platform. Many countries participate formally and informally, according to a report in Forbes.

In the US, retailers popular among Chinese shoppers introduced Singles’ Day promotions. Some European nations including Germany and Belgium offer discounts.

But is not only about shopping in China. Alibaba has ushered in “shoppingtainment” in China with a national television extravaganza that airs annually on 10 November, reports Forbes. It has featured global celebrities like Taylor Swift, David Beckham, and several K-pop bands.