Singles’Day:China’s“Black Friday”

Chinese e-commerce giants enjoyed yet another new sales record this November 11， which has become known as “Singles’Day” in China.

Statistics from leading Chinese analyst firm Syntun show that Chinese online shopping sites recorded 253.97 billion yuan （US$38.34 billion） in sales during this year’s frenzy， an increase of 48.63 percent over the sales volume of 170.87 billion yuan （US$25.8 billion） in 2016. Alibaba and JD.com， China’s two biggest e-commerce giants， contributed 66.23 percent and 21.41 percent of the total sales volume， respectively.

A New World Record

Ms. Liu， a 30-year-old television reporter， loves online shopping. More than 80 percent of the things in her house were bought online， from kitchen utensils to home appliances. She is quite familiar with which online retailers provide the best apparel， most reliable infant formula milk powders and higher-quality facial masks. In early November， her cell phone beeped from time to time as over 200 vendors on her favorites list on Taobao， an e-commerce site owned by Alibaba， kept sending discount messages for the upcoming Singles’ Day. “I had to set my cell phone to silent and delete use- less text messages， or I couldn’t manage them all，” Liu sighed. Just scrolling through the list of discounts still excited her. As the mother of a three-year-old， children’s products including milk powders， clothes， toys and a bicycle were on the top of her shopping list this year. To ensure she could buy some hot-selling commodities at discount prices on Singles’ Day， Ms. Liu even paid a deposit in advance.

This year’s Singles’ Day marked the ninth since it was designated as an online shopping festival in 2009 by Taobao and Tmall， both online shopping platforms under Alibaba. Sales on the day have rocketed with each passing year， increasing from 52 million yuan （US$7.85 million） in 2009 to 253.97 billion yuan （US$38.34 billion） this year. Singles’ Day has become the world’s largest shopping day.

Statistics show that 812 million packages were taped up this Singles’ Day， three times the volume of all of 2006. The same day， global buyers made a total of 1.48 billion transactions with Alipay， the largest third-party payment platform in China， a year-on-year increase of 41 percent.

Singles’ Day to Shopping Day

November 11 was first designated as Singles’ Day because the number “1” re-sembles someone alone， and the numeric date is 11/11. The concept quickly gained popularity among Chinese youths， single or not， especially white-collar workers.

In 2009， Taobao launched a shopping event on Singles’ Day， with the slogan “Even without a girlfriend/boyfriend， you can still shop.”

For China’s traditional retail industry， October has the National Day holiday， December has Christmas， January has New Year’s Day， and then comes Spring Festival. November was once a lull because of its lack of important festivals. The creation of Singles’ Day filled in the gap perfectly， and retailers couldn’t be happier.

Eventually， Singles’ Day became the biggest shopping day of the year.

A Shopping Extravaganza Going Global

On November 8， 2017， Tmall placed an advertisement for its Singles’ Day shopping festival on a billboard in Times Square. Earlier， JD.com， China’s second largest online shopping platform， signed agreements with U.S. manufacturers to import more American-made foods for the pending Singles’ Day. The Singles’Day shopping festival has become a global shopping spree that impacts the world’s supply chain.

This year， a total of 15 million kinds of commodities from over 140，000 brands were discounted for Tmall’s Singles’ Day shopping event. More than 100 Chinese brands were shipped abroad as part of the shopping bonanza， with products exported to some 200 countries and regions with a combined consumer population of nearly 100 million.

“As a global manufacturing hub， China produces a vast array of commodities，” noted Shen Difan， general manager of AliExpress， an Alibaba subsidiary that targets the global market.“E-commerce has become a major plat- form for world trade.” He believes that more and more consumers from other countries will buy Chinese products on AliExpress.

International brands have also joined the daylong shopping festival via cross-border trade. Of the 140，000 brands involved in Tmall’s Singles’Day shopping event， 60，000 are foreign， including some of the world’s top luxury brands such as Chanel and Dior. Countless commodities were available， including prunes from California and durians from Malaysia.

Data show that buyers from 225 countries and regions around the world joined the Singles’ Day shopping spree this year. A New Zealand consumer made the day’s first overseas order. Products from Japan， the United States， Australia， Germany， and South Korea rounded out the top five in sales of imported commodities.

Rise of New Retail

According to the 2016 Chinese Ecommerce Market Data Research Report released by China E-commerce Research Center， the country’s e-commerce transactions totaled 22.97 trillion yuan（US$3.46 trillion） in 2016， an increase of 25.5 percent from the previous year. With increasing penetration of the “internet plus” into traditional industries， China’s e-commerce market is expected to maintain rapid expansion， which is pressuring the traditional retail industry to transform.

In October 2016， Jack Ma， executive chairman of Alibaba， announced the “new retail” concept， declaring that e-commerce would evolve into “new retail” in 10 to 20 years. Later in an interview， Ma explained that “new retail”is a combination of online and offline and matching of humans， goods， warehousing and delivery. He added that despite its fast development over the past decade， e-commerce is like an air force that requires collaboration with ground forces. The combination of online and offline is where he sees the future trend.

New retail requires internet-based enterprises to use cutting-edge technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence to upgrade the production， circulation and sale process of commodities， which will form a new type of retail mode featuring deep integration of online services， offline experience and modern logistics.

New retail fusing online and offline services already began to show promise during this year’s November 11 shopping boom. For instance， by 5 p.m. on that day， some 500 Uniqlo outlets in China had achieved 4.5 times their total sales volume from 2016 Singles’Day. More and more retailers are blending online and offline. After consumers order online， nearby brick-andmortar stores can deliver lightning fast， or online buyers can pick up the purchases themselves. Combining online and offline sales has already become standard practice.