How Singles’ Day is changing online shopping

Chinese Singles’ Day or Bachelors’ Day, which originated from Nanjing University in 1993, was initially celebrated at various universities in Nanjing during the 1990s. It got the name “Singles’ Day” because the date consists of four “one”s. Upon graduating, these college students carried the university tradition into society. Singles’ Day has been popularized since the start of the internet era and is now observed in several regions outside China as well.

What started out as a festival for Chinese youths to celebrate their “single” status on 11 November has evolved over the years into the largest online shopping day in the world. Alibaba and Jack Ma has managed to transform this nondescript day into a global phenomenon that even eclipses the American Black Friday or Amazon Prime online sales.

The annual event starts at midnight and runs for 24-hours with massive discounts offered by online retailers on Alibaba and Tmall. Over the years, savvy businesses have also jumped on the bandwagon and this year, it’s quite apparent that even Malaysian businesses have capitalised on this event by advertising their promotions.

Just how big is Singles’ Day in China? In 2016, Singles’ Day made Alibaba a staggering US$17.8 billion. For comparison, the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales in USA made about US$5.81 combined. This year, Alibaba is expected to break their 2016 revenue with 15 million products from over 140,000 brands! Shoppers have the opportunity to purchase almost anything from home appliances, electronic gadgets, clothes, food and even cars on that day.

What is even more amazing is how Alibaba is able to cope with the demand and process the orders smoothly and ensuring that shoppers are able to get what they want. Jack Ma’s vision and foresight ensures that they are able to scale up their operations and complete each transaction securely.

 

Are you ready for this year’s Singles Day sales? Get your credit cards ready and shop, shop, shop till you drop!