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| Singles' Day | |
|---|---|
 An illustration for the Chinese e-commerce holiday Singles' Day | |
| Observed by | Chinese |
| Type | Commercial |
| Significance | Biggest shopping day in the world |
| Celebrations | Shopping, festivals, clubs/bars |
| Date | 11 November |
| Next time | 11 November 2024 |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Singles' Day | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 光棍節 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 光棍节 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Singles' Holiday | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 雙11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 双11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Singles' Day (simplified Chinese: 光棍节; traditional Chinese: 光棍節) or Double 11 (simplified Chinese: 双11; traditional Chinese: 雙11), originally called Bachelors' Day, is a Chinese unofficial holiday and shopping season that celebrates people who are not in a relationship. The date, 11 November (11/11), was chosen because the numeral 1 resembles a bare stick (Chinese: 光棍; pinyin: guānggùn), which is Chinese Internet slang for an unmarried man who does not add 'branches' to the family tree.[1] The four '1's also abstractly refer to the demographic group of single people. Ironically, the holiday has become a popular date on which to celebrate relationships: more than 4,000 couples got married in Beijing on this date in 2011, far greater than the daily average of 700 marriages.
Originally, the date was celebrated as a cynical response to traditional couple-centric festivals by a small group of college bachelors. However, in 2009 Alibaba's CEO Daniel Zhang began to use the day as a 24-hour shopping holiday festival that offered online shopping discounts and offline entertainment.[2][3][4] The holiday has now become the largest physical retail and online shopping day in the world. Rivals of Alibaba, such as JD.com hosts Singles' Day festival as well, which garnered US$19.1 billion, bringing the Chinese total to US$44.5 billion total sales volume in 2017.[5] Alibaba shoppers exceeded 213.5 billion yuan (US$30.7 billion) in total spend during 2018 Singles Day.[6][7] In 2019, Alibaba said that its gross merchandise volume for the whole event came in at 268.4 billion yuan (US$38.4 billion), an increase of 26% from the previous year.[8] In 2021, Alibaba and JD reached a new combined Singles Day sales record of US$139 billion.[9]
In 2022, both Alibaba and JD.com for the first time did not disclose the Singles' Day sales results as China continued to face macroeconomic headwinds and zero-Covid-19 challenges. However, Alibaba said its results were "in line with [2021's] GMV performance," while JD.com said it set a record-breaking Singles' Day event.[10]
- ^ "Asian demography: The flight from marriage". The Economist. Seoul and Taipei. 20 August 2011. Archived from the original on 14 September 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
- ^ "Singles' Day posts a record haul even at the slowest pace in a decade". South China Morning Post. 12 November 2021. Archived from the original on 11 November 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- ^ Huy, Quy (11 December 2019). "For Alibaba, Singles Day Is About More Than Huge Sales". Harvard Business Review. ISSN 0017-8012. Archived from the original on 1 June 2023. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- ^ "How Alibaba made Singles' Day the world's largest shopping festival". Fortune. Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- ^ "Singles Day 2017 Breaks Record with $44.5 Billion in Sales". SinglesDayBest.com. 26 July 2018. Archived from the original on 15 September 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
- ^ Haas, Benjamin (12 November 2017). "Chinese shoppers spend a record $25bn in Singles Day splurge". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- ^ C. Custer (14 October 2014). "Tmall CEO: this year, Alibaba plans to take Singles Day global". Tech in Asia. Archived from the original on 30 June 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
- ^ "Alibaba's Singles' Day sales hit record $38 billion; growth slows". Reuters. 10 November 2019. Archived from the original on 30 November 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
- ^ Kharpal, Arjun (12 November 2021). "Alibaba, JD smash Singles Day record with $139 billion of sales and focus on 'social responsibility'". CNBC. Archived from the original on 12 July 2023. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
- ^ "Alibaba, JD.com keep mum on this year's Singles' Day transaction volume". South China Morning Post. 12 November 2022. Archived from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.