Singles Day online shopping sales took off earlier than usual this month. Alibaba’s online orders have surpassed a total value of 372.3 billion yuan (around 48billion euro) as of 12:30 a.m. Beijing time on Wednesday. This is already more than they made a total of last year within a 24-hour period. According to the company, compared to the same timeframe as last year, this year’s haul represents an increase of 26%.
Alibaba is part of Alibaba Group a Chinese multinational technology company founded in 1999. In 2020, they became the fifth-largest artificial intelligent company in the world.
Singles day is an unofficial Chinese holiday. It is now one of the most popular shopping festivals around the world-renowned for its steep discounts. The pandemic has increased the popularity of online shopping. By consequence, this year the sales started early on November 1st to help avoid delivery backlogs and to help boost post-pandemic sales.
Around 89% of consumers expect to spend the same as or more than they did the previous year (Oliver Wyman). This Singles day sales will no doubt see an impressive record number in 2020. Not only for Alibaba but also for other eCommerce platforms such as Bol.com.
