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Singles Day 2020

Singles Day is the fast growing, and most profitable shopping holiday of the year, yet many Americans haven't heard of it.


Singles Day 2020 shopping holiday

Treat Yo Self

Every year, people around the world spend billions of dollars in the last 6 weeks of the year buying gifts for other people. Since the early 1950’s, retailers have taken advantage of holiday shopping trends by annually hosting doorbuster sales for Black Friday. More recently, new shopping days featuring unique deals have been established, such as Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and some companies even celebrating seven days of deals with Cyber Week. But before the madness of gift-giving overwhelms consumers with the holiday spirit, there is another shopping holiday with the power to earn more revenue than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. This shopping day comes with just one single message: Treat Yo Self!

Treat Yo Self! | Parks and Rec

Universal Studios Home Entertainment (Firm). (2015). Parks and recreation: Season Four

 

What is Singles Day?

Singles Day, a commercial holiday which honors who you are regardless of your relationship status, is celebrated on November 11. In 1993, a group of University students in China wanted to create an anti-valentine’s day, where their singleness would be commemorated. The date, 11/11, was chosen as it resembles 4 singles coming together. The original idea was to participate in a day full of games, entertainment, and celebrations for single people and after becoming a staple for college-aged students, it became an unofficial national holiday in which individuals around China enjoyed nice dinners and splurged on things that they would not normally purchase for themselves. It was not until 2009 that it became an official shopping holiday when one of China’s largest technology companies specializing in e-commerce and retail, Alibaba, began offering exclusive Singles Day sales through their online marketplace. Since then, it has grown into a world-wide event, becoming the single most profitable online retail holiday. According to Forbes, “In 2019… Singles’ Day on Alibaba reached $38 billion, just over ten times the $3.5 billion Amazon reached in the U.S. on Prime Day this year (2020).” With China being the largest e-commerce market in the world, almost three and half times larger than the US market on average, as reported by eMarketer, it is no surprise that a Chinese shopping holiday comfortably surpasses the average combined sales of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

What about in the US?

Though Singles Day quickly caught on in the eastern hemisphere, it has taken a little longer for this bustling shopping holiday to be picked up in the US retail market. Money is tighter this year due to the recession caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, but quarantine has unexpectedly brought on an increasing social trend of “self-love and self-care” which at its core, is what Singles Day is all about. While US domestic sales might be a little lower for this shopping holiday, using Singles Day sales to boost international orders might be a way for retailers to make up for lost income. Forbes also mentioned that this year, Alibaba is pushing for international participation of Singles’ Day, “…suggesting overseas brands use China as part of a ‘global brand recovery.’ It all has a certain logic given China’s progress in recovering from the pandemic.” To help push this message, for the first time Alibaba will be producing English-language livestreams to engage with brands worldwide. With over 250,000 brands participating and 2,600+ newly participating international brands, it’s safe to say that this year’s sales are expected to be record breaking despite the current economical state of the US.

Shipping Internationally

If you are a company promoting Singles Day, then it will be extremely important to be prepared to ship orders internationally. International shipping can be complicated. When shipping abroad, customs forms for all non-US territories are required and a lot of time is spent manually filling out these forms separately. Different countries will have different policies and regulations, making it critical that orders provide all information needed for order customs forms.

Luckily, DesktopShipper’s shipping solution automates this process, allowing you more time to work on completing multiple orders and less time on paperwork. Our system automatically collects the details from your marketplaces based on the rules predetermined within DesktopShipper's UI. The result is international shipping with the ease of shipping domestic, saving you much needed time, not just for Singles Day, but throughout the entire busy holiday season.

shipping solution software

Don’t Sleep on Singles

This year, Amazon Prime Day set a personal best with $3.5bil sold in 24 hours. According to nationaltoday.com, Singles Day beats that in just the first 5 minutes. These days single people make up the majority, so embrace the celebration of being alone without being lonely and allow your consumers to indulge on themselves this Singles Day!

What would you splurge on yourself?

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