The volume of merchandise sold on Singles Day—the predominately Chinese event that occurred on 11.11 and is basically the invention of e-commerce giant Alibaba—was jaw-dropping. This year, in just the first two hours of the world’s biggest shopping day, sales on Alibaba platforms alone topped $7 billion. In the hours since, they have blown past last year’s total of about $14.3 billion, and reached $20 billion by the end of the day.
For comparison’s sake, combined Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales in the US in 2015 were about $13.5 billion—and keep in mind that’s across all retailers. The Singles Day figures above are just within Alibaba’s e-commerce ecosystem, which works differently than a site such as Amazon. These sales to consumers are happening on Alibaba’s site Tmall, where brands can set up their own storefront, and Taobao, a peer-to-peer site similar to eBay. Alibaba also has its main platform, which deals in wholesale.
Anxious to get a share of the sales, US fashion retailers and brands, including Macy’s, Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, and Coach, are jumping into Singles Day. But a quick cash grab isn’t the only objective. Singles Day offers a way for brands to establish or build a long-term foothold in China, where the growing middle class promises years of sales ahead, and it has also become a way to play with new commerce concepts, such as virtual reality.
This year, Macy’s took part in its first Singles Day by working with Alibaba on a virtual experience. In late October, Alibaba started selling 150,000 cardboard VR headsets, similar to Google Cardboard, for 1 yuan (about $0.15) on Taobao. From Nov. 1-11, customers could use them with Taobao’s app to virtually stroll through and shop Macy’s famed New York flagship. On Singles Day itself, the discounts that help make the shopping bonanza so popular were also available in the virtual-reality shopping trip. You can watch a video showing what the experience was like below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP2SXkcMhX0
Other international brands, including Target, CostCo, and Tokyo Otaku Mode, are also doing virtual shopping experiences with Alibaba. Mike Evans, Alibaba’s president and the person in charge of the company’s international expansion, says the point goes beyond sales. He calls Singles Day “a test bed for the future of commerce,” and believes using technology to create these experiences establishes a stronger relationship with shoppers.
Expect next Singles Day to be even bigger, with even more tech-enabled shopping opportunities.
Keep up the good work. Prof Raymond