You haven’t experienced a massive sale event until you find yourself sitting in front of your computer, mouse finger at the ready, waiting for sales to go live every 11 November. Welcome to the shopping phenomenon that is 11.11, also known as Singles Day.
What is Singles Day?
The single ones in 11.11 are referred to as ‘bare sticks’ – four lonely sticks. According to urban legend, the unofficial holiday was kickstarted over 20 years ago by a group of students in Nanjing University, who were single, and who decided that they would celebrate their single statuses every 11.11 for fun. An anti-Valentine’s Day, if you will.
Is Singles Day a sad thing to be celebrating?
No. Don’t be prejudiced.
Okay, but what are the 11.11 sales?
Jack Ma, the founder of Chinese online retail giant Alibaba, was inspired by the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sprees in the U.S., and answered with Asia’s own massive flash sale day, which he chose to have on 11.11. Of course, you don’t have to be single to shop. Shopping websites across Alibaba Group (alibaba.com, Lazada, Taobao, Tmall and AliExpress, to name a few) have been joined by other shopping websites and brick-and-mortar establishments all the world in this huge sales event.
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What sales should I look out for?
Excellent question. Alibaba is the foremost leader in this particular segment; lookout for big deals on fashion e-tailers Zalora, Pomelo and Net-A-Porter. Even beauty retailer Sephora is hopping on the 11.11 bandwagon.
How huge is huge?
The 11.11 sales are even bigger than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined (and you thought those were crazy!). Singles Day sales in 2018 saw $30.8 billion in sales in the 24-hour shopping event. Compare that to the $6.2 and $7.9 billion in sales from Black Friday and Cyber Monday respectively!
Why are people so crazy about Singles Day?
If you have to ask why people love massive sales, we can’t even with you right now.
Fine. I’m in. How do I prepare?
This is serious stuff man. Take the morning off (hell, take the day off if you need to). Charge all devices. Lay out your credit cards. Upgrade your internet. Be logged in on all your sites. Update all your wishlists. Mainline coffee if you need to. THIS. IS. SINGLES DAY.
