Singles Day: How China's biggest shopping event changed global retail game
Chinaʼs Singles Day shopping event has grown from a small university celebration to a mega-sale bigger than Black Friday. This shopping festival shows how chinese retail differs from western markets
The worlds biggest shopping event isnt Black Friday or Cyber Monday - its Singles Day in China which started as a fun way to celebrate being single back in early 90s
Nanjing University students made up this holiday about 30 years ago‚ and now its grown into a huge shopping festival that runs for almost a month (this year it started mid-october and ended on 11/11)
Last years numbers were mind-blowing; chinese shoppers spent over 1.14 trillion yuan which is like four times more than what americans spend during Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. But the growth is slowing down - last year showed just 2% increase which was the smallest ever
The main players in this game are Alibaba‚ JD.com and PDD Holdings who fight for customers with crazy-low prices. Hereʼs what people usually buy:
- Basic stuff like tissues and noodles
- Pet supplies and household items
- Home appliances (which got extra-popular due to government trade-in program)
- Tech gadgets with big discounts
Big western brands like Nike‚ Estee Lauder‚ and Apple join the party too - they offer china-specific deals that you wont find anywhere else. For example this year iPhone buyers got special discounts and free AppleCare+ services
The length - the duration of 11.11 has been extended. Itʼs going to be the longest 11.11 ever
But things arent as hot as they used to be: only about half of chinese customers say theyre excited about Singles Day now compared to 76% just three years ago. Most people plan to spend same or less money this time around
