We began with a small dream: To launch an online event wrote Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang in a recent blog post announcing this year's Singles' Day. We didn't expect it to magnify to today's scale. Quite! 'Pfft!' to Prime Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday Alibaba's Singles' Day eclipses them all. Not just in terms of scale and reach but with the sheer spectacle of it all too. There's no crazier celebration of consumerism than that thrown by the juggernaut Chinese retailer.
China of course owns eCommerce. By 2020 it's predicted to account for 60% of the global eCommerce market leading some commentators to speculate that if a brand wins China they win the world. Nothing asserts this dominance like Singles' Day and as the tenth annual event draws near here's a quick jaunt through everything you need to know about it.
Singles' Day began as a celebration of singledom at China's Nanjing University in 1993 the date 11.11 being the perfect choice for what it represents. Alibaba adopted it in 2009 putting a commercial spin on the Chinese saying: If you cannot be with someone you like you can at least be with something you like.
Nope. Singles' Day is catching on internationally with increasing traction in Taiwan Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Furthermore last year's rebrand from Singles' Day to the '11.11 Global Shopping Festival' speaks volumes of its plans for world domination.
Sure! Last year
These figures are truly awesome. Sales in the first year hit US$7.8million. Last year they hit US$25.3 billion making it the biggest shopping day in the world offline or online. China sells more on 11.11 than most countries do in a year. The only countries to sell more online in a year than China sells that day are China (obviously) the US Japan the UK and Germany.
Well last year, Amazon Prime Day hit $2.4 billion so do the math!
Yup. Mobile penetration on Singles' Day 2017 hit a record high of 90% up 8% on 2016. For comparison just 30% of 2017 black Friday shoppers bought on mobile. China's strong figures can be attributed to the fact that in the last 10 years the number of internet users has risen to 802 million 98% of which are mobile early adopters that the Chinese are. Furthermore China's mobile payment systems are far more sophisticated than in the West. Led by popular mobile apps AliPay and WeChat Pay Chinese consumers go straight from cash to smartphones skipping cards. In contrast most Western systems depend on banks for non-cash payments and are tied to consumer bank accounts. The Chinese systems are so quick and streamlined that paying with cash is almost unheard of. Phone-scannable QR codes also mean anyone can become a merchant since there's no need for hardware like card readers. Chinese consumers even use their smartphones to pay the likes of street vendors.
Huge. It's not just an adjunct to their China strategy it's the climax of it accounting for as much of 25% of their annual sales there. Brands spend up to eight months planning for it with many using it as a launch pad for new products and their most creative marketing campaigns. This year over 180000 brands are participating with 500000 items available for order on Tmall (Alibaba's B2C marketplace) since October 20th.
A hallmark of Singles' Day is 'retail as entertainment' which spawned this rather grotesque new word. And Alibaba really pulls out all the stops here running a live televised gala countdown to the event every year. This Super Bowl-style affair draws ratings of up to 200 million features stars such as David Beckham Nicole Kidman Pharrell Williams and naturally surprise appearances from Alibaba's colorful and charismatic co-founder Jack Ma. This year it takes place in Shanghai's Mercedes Benz Arena.
It's fully integrated in to all of it. There are live product launches demos and contests with customers using interactive apps to download coupons raffle tickets gift certificates etc. and wearing VR headsets to play games. The launch of this year's event on October 20th saw Tmall run its annual 'See Now Buy Now' fashion show which was broadcast live on 10 platforms allowing millions to buy items on the spot and vote for their favourite looks.
Alibaba is using Singles' Day to showcase the progress of its pioneering and game-changing 'New Retail' program. This began two years ago and is all about blurring the line between online and offline through cutting edge technology. The goal of which is to be wherever its customers are no matter what they're doing (which worries us we'll find Jack Ma under our bed one day).
In many weird and wonderful ways. Here are just a few:
Sadly it is so. Ma AKA 'The Steve Jobs of China' or indeed 'The Willy Wonka of eCommerce' as ChannelSight prefers to call him recently announced he is stepping down transitioning the role of Chairman to CEO Daniel Zhang in September 2019. Ma's next move is anyone's guess. Perhaps he'll return to his former career as an English teacher. Perhaps he'll dedicate himself further to philanthropy. Perhaps he'll explore his burgeoning career as a performance artist last year he made his acting debut with in this kung fu short film 'Gong Shou Dao' and his stage debut in this epic Michael Jackson tribute. The possibilities are endless. But you can be sure of one thing whatever his next move it'll be interesting. Now you know everything there is to know about Alibaba's Singles' Day learn how ChannelSight 'Where to Buy' technology can help your brand join the party by talking to one of our team today!
