Double 11: China's Singles' Day
If you live in a Western country and like online shopping and great deals, you probably look forward to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, usually in late November.
But have you heard of Double 11, also known as Singles' Day? It's the Chinese equivalent to Black Friday, but it's a lot bigger!
Let's dive into the origins and importance of this massive shopping event.
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What is Singles' Day
Singles' Day happens every year on November 11th and started as a fun “anti-Valentine's” celebration at Nanjing University in the 1990s. The idea came from university students who wanted to break out of their single lives and decided to organize events specifically for singles on that day.
Singles' Day slowly grew in popularity but suddenly exploded in 2009 when Alibaba, one of China's e-commerce giants, saw an opportunity to turn it into a shopping event. The company offered massive discounts on their platforms to get people excited about the event and the whole thing took off from there. Today, it's the world's biggest shopping event and people go all-out on shopping sprees, buying everything from electronics and clothing to groceries and luxury goods.
Alibaba founder Jack Ma at the 2017 Singles' Day gala (Source)
Why is Singles' Day celebrated on November 11th?
In Chinese, a single person is called a “bare stick” (光棍, guānggùn) because they don't add any more branches to their family tree. That's why Singles' Day is called 光棍节/光棍節 (Guānggùn Jié) in Chinese: The bare stick festival. And the number one looks like a stick, so 11/11 as the date symbolizing single people standing together makes a lot of sense.
Due to the date, another name for Singles' Day is Double 11 (双十一/雙十一, shuāng shíyī). This name became so iconic that Alibaba trademarked it, turning Double 11 into a brand itself.
Other e-commerce platforms like JD.com joined the party and although they can't use the term Double 11 for marketing, they still offer discounts on that day and have the best day of the year.
The shopping frenzy
To call Double 11 enormous would be an understatement. It's the world's biggest shopping event, and the numbers are mind-boggling.
In 2021, the Singles' Day sales volume on Alibaba and JD combined reached 139 billion US dollars! That's more than three times the sales volume of the Black Friday weekend. No numbers were published since then, but they are probably still high.
But it's not just browsing and buying. There are countdown parties, celebrity performances, and interactive online events. Alibaba used to organize massive galas with international stars like Taylor Swift and Pharrell Williams, gaining more viewers than the Super Bowl. Live-streaming also plays a huge role, with influencers showcasing products and answering questions to drive instant purchases.
Singles' Day live streams to increase sales (Source)
This shopping frenzy has garnered Singles' Day another more colloquial name: “Chop-off hand day” (剁手节/剁手節, Duòshǒu Jié). It refers to the idea that people spend so much money that they might as well chop off their hands to stop themselves from buying more stuff.
Singles' Day going global
While it started in China, Singles' Day is slowly growing into a global phenomenon. It has already gained traction in parts of Southeast Asia on platforms like Shopee and Lazada. And while it's not as widespread in Western countries yet, some platforms like Elgiganten in the Nordic countries have Singles' Day campaigns.
Final Thoughts
I sometimes forget about the sheer scale of Chinese festivals and how little we know about them in the West. Events like Chinese New Year or Singles' Day easily dwarf festivals like Christmas and Easter. However, while most Chinese festivals have a very long history, Singles' Day is still an infant in that regard.
The future will show whether Singles' Day will manage to spread to more countries and become truly global or not. Western countries often have a shopping season before Christmas and I am not sure whether Singles' Day just one month prior to that is going to gain traction, but I guess time will tell.
Either way, if you find yourself uncontrollably buying stuff on the internet, please don't chop your hands off 😉
