Reasons Why Alibaba Singles’ Day Will Destroy Black Friday And Cyber Monday

Bloomberg estimates that this year, around 1.7 million deliverymen, 5,000 warehouses, 200 airplanes, and 400,000 vehicles will be in action to cater to the deliveries on Singles’ Day.

Wang continued to explain why they can serve up such incredible promotions for such coveted brands on a virtually unknown shopping holiday: “The Chinese are the largest purchasers of high-end beauty products in the world”. Wednesday, November 11 is Singles’ Day in China.

This year will also be the e-commerce giant’s first time hosting a gala at Beijing’s National Aquatics Centre stadium to expand the festival’s “cultural content”, according to Alibaba.

The holiday has quickly turned into a homegrown Chinese answer to Black Friday.

In last year’s Singles Day, Alibaba retail sites Tmall and Taobao attracted online orders valued at 57.1 billion yuan (US$9.05 billion), setting a one-day world sales record. For a few of these foreign companies that don’t have a physical bricks-and-mortar presence in China, it’s an opportunity to test their brand’s resonance there. Besides last year’s names, including Nike (NKE), Apple (AAPL), Proctor & Gamble (PG) and Costco (COST), this year will also include Macy’s (M), Estee Lauder (EL), Huggies, Disney (DIS), Topshop, Uniqlo and Coke (KO) – which will create a special bottle and products for this year’s Singles’ Day.

“[Shoppers come] from all parts of China: every province, every city and even every county town”, he said.

Smartphone maker Xiaomi, which past year became the first store on Alibaba’s Tmall platform to achieve sales of more than 1bn yuan, has prepared to sell more than two million smartphones during the 24-hour period.

Hangzhou-based social commerce application Mogujie has teamed up with Japanese personal care and cosmetics review website Cosme to introduce customized cosmetics packages for shoppers ahead of the Singles Day event.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding in 2009 began offering wide-ranging discounts on November 11, with the holiday taking its name from the series of lonely 1s. “It’s [only] 24 hours. Everybody is talking about rural e-commerce”.

Although Dealmoon is not well known in the United States, it receives more than 13 million monthly viewers. But not all the numbers herald good news for Alibaba.

“We’re seeing more and more consumers shifting to mobile”, Chief Executive Officer Daniel Zhang said Tuesday night.

Reaching the Chinese consumer online or in the west could help prepare a brand for an expansion into the country. “You’re standing next to somebody on the subway but you don’t realize they’re dropping about $500 on Singles Day sales on their phone”, said Zakkour, author of China’s Super Consumers. Economists hope the event will act as a thermometer for the Chinese economy, which has slowed in the last quarter.

Singles’ Day will prove especially lucrative for premium and luxury fashion brands, as YouGov found that “apparel, accessories, shoes, and bags” is the most popular category that Chinese consumers are planning to buy, with 64 percent listing the category.

Singles’ Day cashes in on the mobile penetration levels of China alone, which stand at 90%.

China’s communist founder Mao Zedong would likely be turning in his mausoleum at the unabashed display of capitalist excess.