How Western Brands Are Tapping Into China’s Crazy-Big E-commerce Holiday
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China’s Singles Day is a strange little holiday created in the ’90s by university students who thought the date 11/11 looked like four solitary stick figures. Somehow, it has evolved into the country’s largest e-commerce shopping event, with Western brands eager to cash in.
And for good reason: Last year’s Nov. 11 was so big the transactions overloaded banks, and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba logged $3 billion in sales — two times what U.S. retailers achieved on Cyber Monday.
China’s e-tailing fest exploded out of nowhere. Alibaba, which is preparing for a much-awaited IPO, launched the holiday just five years ago with 27 brands. This year more than 20,000 brands are in the game, including many Western companies competing for the attention of China’s booming middle class. In a country where only 44% of the population is online, the holiday has room to grow.
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