It started out as a joke – but now it’s an unofficial holiday. It’s the day when productivity plummets. It’s when people spend big. It’s China’s Singles Day.
Alibaba, the online shopping giant that turned November 11 from a meme about Chinese college dudes being lonesome into a national institution, is the one shouting most loudly about the discounts and promotions on offer, ensuring nobody in the country can forget what’s going on. Even Katy Perry is in on it.
GIF credit: Reaction Gifs.
The singer of I Kissed a Girl and Teenage Dream will fly in to China for a performance at Alibaba’s Countdown Gala Celebration the night before Singles Day begins. It’ll even be on TV.
GIF credit: We Know Memes.
Then, on November 11, China’s shoppers will once again fire up a bunch of their favorite shopping apps in pursuit of discounts – some modest, some huge – available only online for the duration of the 24-hour shopfest.
Last year’s Singles Day saw shoppers on Alibaba’s marketplaces spend US$14.3 billion. That doesn’t include all the stuff people bought on rival stores like JD, Amazon China, or literally hundreds of smaller sites and apps.
Looking at the Singles Day spending on Alibaba’s stores from 2009 to 2015, the trendline – assuming the growth continues – points to this year’s festivities seeing well over US$20 billion being spent in just one day.
China’s biggest shopping day is already bigger than the US’ Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so it has nothing to beat except its own milestones.
Video: Alibaba by the numbers
Editing by Neha Margosa and Kylee McIntyre
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