All over the world, we celebrate Valentine’s Day to celebrate the presence of romantic love in our lives. This is the day we buy gifts for our beloved partner to show how much we love and appreciate them. While this is a happy occasion for most of us, single people feel left out. There is no day to celebrate being single. This might be true for the rest of the world but not China. In China, there is a day dedicated to people who are single. Singles Day was first celebrated by students at Nanjing University in 1993 on November 11 (Berker, 2015, para. 1). The exact date was chosen to commemorate the loneliness of the number one. The day is also known as “double 11’’ day, “bachelor’s day” or “bare sticks holiday” (Berker, 2015, para. 3).
Single’s Day is an occasion when single people treat themselves and party with their single friends. At first, the day was only celebrated my single men but it is now celebrated by both the genders. When the students of the Nanjing University graduated they took this college tradition and carried it into the society. Some people even go on blind dates in an attempt to end their single lives and start afresh with new partners. Although this was not meant to become a tradition, somehow, it turned into one. As people buy gifts for their partners on Valentine’s Day, Single’s Day morphed into an occasion where single people treat themselves with gifts.
So, what is so special about Single’s Day you might ask? What if I tell you that Single’s Day is the biggest shopping festival on earth even surpassing the Black Friday Sales in the US. Alibaba, the e-commerce giant in China has turned Single’s Day into a shopping bonanza. Shoppers spent more than 14.3 billion US dollars in 24 hours. In comparison, Cyber Monday sales in the US brought in only 1.35 billion dollars (China’s Alibaba, 2015, para. 4).
But, Single’s Day was not always the same. It was the year 2009 when Jack MA (Alibaba’s CEO), first tried to utilize the day and tried to turn it into a Single’s shopping dream. Alibaba launched a massive marketing campaign in China offering Single’s day deals for the first time. Since then the e-commerce giant has never looked back. Year on Year basis the sales on Single’s Day has grown more than 5,740% between 2009 and 2013 (Berker, 2015, para. 8). That is an exponential growth pattern.
Alibaba CEO achieved this great feat by using clever marketing. In 2009, e-commerce industry has exploded in China. Chinese consumers were craving for a day like Black Friday or Cyber Monday to launch in their country. Jack Ma riding on the e-commerce boom started his own version of Black Friday in the form of Single’s Day. China one child policy had already led to a skewed sex ratio. In 2014, there were 20 million more males than females above the age of 30 in China. Tapping on the shopping potential of a big single population, Single’s Day became an instant hit.
As the Clock struck 12 and the deals went online, viewers of the special broadcast home were allowed to play games online winning which they could buy and own a Cadillac for just 15 cents (Berker, 2015, para. 18). The Special program, the extravagant marketing, and the unbelievable deals made the ‘double 11” or the Single’s day a gigantic hit. The sales were off the chart and the numbers went through the roof. Within the first 90 minutes of sales, the company sold products to the tune of 5 billion dollars. Throughout the day, special deals were launched every hour to keep the customers engaged. At the end of the day, the total sales figure rose to $14.3 billion dollars. This is a 57% increase from last year’s sales figures of 9.3 billion dollars. It set the record of sales on a single day and tops the chart anywhere in the world.
According to, the company analytics, more than 73% of the sales came from their mobile app users. Alibaba now accounts for more than 80% of the total e-commerce industry of china. The official statement released from Alibaba said, it will take more than four hundred thousand vehicles, 200 planes, 5000 warehouses and 1.7 million personal to handle the deliveries. Even the Chinese premier Li Keqiang officially phoned Alibaba’s CEO Jack Ma to congratulate and encourage on the creation and success of “double 11” deals (China’s Alibaba, 2015, para. 22).
Single’s Day is a huge success story in Alibaba’s portfolio, one which is matched by no other. But no big event is ever completed in the history if it is not accompanied by some controversies. Alibaba’s rival JD.com reportedly files a complaint against Alibaba, accusing the company of monopolizing the market and restricting sellers to participate in any other operator’s promotional events.
But, keeping the controversies apart, the fact that Single’s Day shopping event, the brainchild of Jack Ma’s legacy has toppled every other similar event and dominates the charts cannot be denied. Seeing the trend from previous six years, the event is going to get bigger and bigger every year and it seems next to impossible for any other shopping event to take its crown.
References
Berkey, J. (2015, November 14). How Alibaba turned an obscure, made-up Chinese holiday into a $14.3 billion shopping extravaganza that's bigger than Black Friday. Retrieved January 28, 2016, from http://www.businessinsider.in/How-Alibaba-turned-an-obscure-made-up-Chinese-holiday-into-a-14-3-billion-shopping-extravaganza-thats-bigger-than-Black-Friday/articleshow/49783195.cms
China's Alibaba breaks Singles Day record as sales surge - BBC News. (2015, November 11). Retrieved January 28, 2016, from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34773940
Lukerson, V. (2015, November 11). Today Is 'Single's Day,' China's Massive Shopping Holiday. Retrieved January 28, 2016, from http://time.com/4106634/singles-day-china-alibaba-baba/
Singles' Day: China splurges $9.3bn in 12 hours on world's biggest online shopping day. (2015, November 11). Retrieved January 28, 2016, from http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/11/china-singles-day-new-record-online-shopping-alibaba
