China’s Singles Day Breaks Record Again Selling $71.4B USD in Gross Merchandise Value

Before we cut to the chase, let us first explain to you what Single's Day is.

Otherwise known as 双十一(Double 11 Day), the day that celebrates people who are not in relationships. The date, 11th of November (11/11), was chosen because the numeral 1 resembles bare sticks or guanggun, which is Chinese Internet slang for an unmarried man who does not add 'branches' to the family tree. Sounds scary, doesn't it? Well, today, however, it is an unofficial holiday and China’s largest national shopping festival.

So what's the big fuss about?

I'm sure you have all heard of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Boxing Day, or even Amazon Prime Day. These are all the big shopping events in North America that rake in billions of dollars in sales each year.

Most recently, Amazon reported that they garnered $10.4 billion in gross merchandise sales during this year's Prime Day shopping event, an increase of nearly 60% compared to last year and a record for the small and midsize businesses that make up the marketplace.

Sounds impressive, doesn't it? Not quite...

According to the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, the biggest e-commerce platform in the world, it reported that its first Covid-19 era Singles' Day generated 498.2 billion Yuan ($74.1 billion USD) in gross merchandise volume from November 1 to 11. This is an increase of 26% compared to the same timeframe in 2019.

"China's economy has seen a strong recovery and Chinese consumers' purchase behaviours have already returned to pre-pandemic levels, if not higher," according to Xiaofeng Wang, an analyst with market research firm Forrester.

This year, about 470 brands ranging from Apple to Adidas and to L’Oréal, have each surpassed 100 million yuan in gross sales on Alibaba's online platforms.

So it comes as to no surprise that any and everywhere you look right now on Chinese social media platforms and mobile apps, you will be bombarded by Singles Day deals leading up to November 11th. These limited-time offers are promoted beginning from the end of October, where brands engage celebrity brand ambassadors for online ads, online live stream segments, and special handpicked brand packages touted by celebrities to their large fanbases.

Below are a few examples of how brands creatively boost their sales through Chinese social media.

1. Livestreaming - L’Oréal

It comes as no surprise that beauty and skincare would dominate in the top sales categories. E-commerce live streaming was one of the major drivers for Singles’ Day sales growth. In 2019, L’Oréal offered at least 6 hours of daily broadcasts starting from September 30, until the main shopping day. The brand sponsored 17 hours of live streaming broadcasts on the first day of pre-sales and another 24-hour marathon broadcast on November 11, which enabled it to generate a reported seven-fold increase in gross merchandise volume from live streaming over 2018.

This year was no different. Alibaba further enhanced the experience by providing artificial-intelligence driven virtual hosts. The company also supplied real-time translation into four different languages. Alibaba’s C2C and small business marketplace had 28 live streaming channels on Taobao Live.

The Chinese government estimates that during the first six months of 2020, more than 10 million e-commerce live-streaming sessions were hosted online. 

2. WeChat Stores - Nike

Since WeChat is the premiere all-in-one app in China, it’s a no brainer for any brands and businesses to set up their stores on its platform to maximize convenience for their customers and consumers. It works well for salespeople and realtors too by the way!

One strong example is Nike. The sportswear giant created their WeChat store only a few years ago driving users to make purchases directly through the app. You could already imagine how well Single's Day went for them.

Need assistance setting up WeChat for your company? We've got you covered!

3. Douyin - Chinese TikTok

We are sure that the whole world has heard about TikTok or Douyin by now, but did you know that the Chinese user behaviours on Douyin are very different from the rest of the world that are on TikTok? Since the e-commerce scene is huge in China, there's no doubt that many brands would also hop on Douyin to promote their products, especially with Influencer and Celebrity endorsements.

Take a look at one of OLAY's Douyin campaigns for Single's Day from 2019.

They created many different product advertisements and this sample shows how brands should start to consider creating videos in portrait orientation.

The app also allows brands to add a pop-up link that takes users to T-Mall (Taobao's e-commerce platform) where users can complete their purchase.

Final Thoughts

How did your business do during Single's Day? With so much competition in the marketplace, it is important for your business to be on the right platforms, targeting the right audience, and running proper ads at the right time.

Did you know there's another big shopping day in China asides from Single's Day? It's called the 618 festival which was spearheaded by JD.com, an eCommerce platform and also Alibaba’s key competitor in China. We have written an article here just for you. Check it out!

Have further questions regarding anything you've read about today? Reach out to us at info@catalystagents.com and our specialists will get back to you within 24 hours.