AliBaba Breaks Singles Day Records as China Recovers From Covid-19

Last week we saw 11/11 again, or as it is known in the Eastern world ‘Singles Day’.

Singles Day 2020 saw AliBaba break all previous records by declaring roughly $75 Billion in sales over the 3 day event period. Compared to the same period from 2019, this has seen an increase of 26%.

Compared to the Black Friday and Cyber Monday (Thanksgiving Weekend) in the US during 2019 which recorded sales of $17.6 Billion, it is fair to say that Singles Day dwarfs the Eastern Holiday.

Rebounding from Covid-19

China has reported positive economic growth for the second quarter in a row, showcasing how quickly the second largest economy in the world has managed to rebound after their severe and drastic lockdowns earlier in the year.

“China’s economy has seen a strong recovery and Chinese consumers’ purchase behaviors have already returned to pre-pandemic levels, if not higher,” Xiaofeng Wang, Analyst, Forrester.

It appears that Chinese shoppers this year have been eager to forget the past as market research conducted in China found that 86% of shoppers were planning on spending the same, or more than they had done on previous Singles Day’s

What Does This Mean For Black Friday & Cyber Monday?

We have been used to year on year seeing Amazon specifically announce record breaking years in terms of the Thanksgiving periods sales.

There have been a few potential reasons for this, mainly around the 1 day event being turned into 2 week events like last year, which is obviously going to lead to increased numbers.

If you visit the Amazon website right now you will find their Early Black Friday Deals and we are still a week and a half away from Black Friday.

Due to the continuing impact of Covid-19 across the US many large stores have announced that they will not be opening on Thanksgiving or will not be offering the bricks and mortar ‘Doorbuster’ deals as it would be near impossible to impose social distancing.

Will this drive more deal hungry shoppers online, or will the ongoing uncertainty with the economy, the virus and the election mean that a lot of shoppers will be a little more hesitant to spend at previous levels?

Only time will tell and we will of course be sure to keep you updated on the latest numbers from Black Friday and Cyber Monday when we have them.

Dave Furness

Dave is a Co-Founder of eSeller365. For over 10 years he has been involved with eCommerce with a particular interest in the marketplaces and the huge opportunities available for sellers when utilizing a multi-channel strategy. After a year of being the UK’s youngest eCommerce consultant, he built an education platform called UnderstandingE that showed the world how to utilize Magento as the “Third Generation of Multi-Channel software”.

Dave has also created a YouTube channel dedicated to entrepreneurship and eCommerce as well as a podcast dedicated to mental health awareness. When Dave isn’t working his main interests include learning and playing Chess, researching the Crypto and NFT space, and trying to find the nearest beach.