What the Success of Singles' Day Tells Us about the Current eCommerce Market.

With Covid that happened this year and many people losing their jobs or retailers suffering, you would think that online shopping events might have suffered the same way. On the contrary! Despite the pandemic, many people have resorted to online shopping. Most would have spent their money travelling but because of the restrictions, they find themselves with extra money to spend and hence resort to online shopping. Limitations on travel and in-person shopping caused by the pandemic have led to massive increases in ecommerce and mobile sales around the world. Online shopping is increasingly becoming consumers go-to for everything from high-end purchases to basic essentials. Singles Day is another opportunity for brands to get in front of consumers, who are not only doing their holiday shopping, but may also be itching to buy themselves something nice after a long year.

Did you know that China’s Singles’ Day smashed its previous year’s records ? Hold on, before we dive into that, let’s talk a little about what Singles Day actually is. 11:11 is singles day and this idea may sound peculiar but there are millions of people that celebrate it. Single’s Day stemmed from China and it’s one of the biggest sales event of the year, celebrating single-dom. But although it may have originated in China, over the years, more and more countries around the world are jumping on this opportunity to market their goods. It has been rebranded for international markets as the “11:11 Global Shopping Festival”. Now let’s talk about the success of Singles Day and what it tells us about the current ecommerce market and its trends.

This year, Singles Day kicked off 3 days earlier to boost post-pandemic sales. Tmall, Alibaba’s retail sales platform even introduced 2600 new overseas brands in an effort to capture sales from Chinese shoppers who aren’t currently able to travel because of COVID. Many of the overseas products that garnered attention were from luxury brands. With no global travel, Chinese people stay within mainland China but they still prefer to buy all kinds of high-quality products overseas.

Another trend that was noticed during Singles Day were the purchases of more Chinese goods and more practical items, particularly since many shoppers are still focused on safety. The likelihood of consumers indulging in coveted items or stocking up on necessary essentials is high this year especially with the added convenience of ecommerce.

A new trend that emerged during this time was Live Streaming. Many brands felt that live streamed events, such as fashion shows were what really made the difference on Singles Day. Live streaming was a fixture of Singles Day and a reliable digital tool to boost brand engagement and sales. The “instant information” and deep discounts offered via live streams were prized by live stream shoppers.

During the pandemic, many shoppers increased mobile shopping which in turn boosted live streaming sales. As ecommerce and mobile shopping become more popular, more countries around the world are seeing this as an opportunity to promote their products and services as well.

As previously mentioned, Singles Day is predominantly a Chinese retail event. However, this holiday is starting to catch on among consumers in other countries. The potential global expansion of Singles Day presents a great excuse for consumers to shop ecommerce deals and brands to offer Singles Day promos. Some international brands that took part in Singles Day were, Farmacy, bareMinerals and Net-A-Porter. By tapping into a growing cultural phenomenon like Singles Day, and capitalizing on the increasing reliance on ecommerce, brands can capture new audiences ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. There is huge excitement about the upcoming holidays and the desire to shop for deals which is driving many shoppers to ecommerce brands and retailers on Singles Day and into the future.