Similarities and differences between Singles' Day and Black Friday

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday coming up in two weeks, several retailers have posted their offerings early. Following how China’s Singles’ Day turned out this year, may serve as a good point of reference for Black Friday. Singles’ Day is the yearly Chinese shopping bonanza that takes place the 11th of November every year. This year the event broke all possible records. The event was held for 11 days versus the traditional Singles’ Day event. The total sales during the event over all platforms was a whopping $72 billion ($39.8 billion dollars 2019).

That number exceeds the Gross Domestic Product of countries like Luxemburg or Bulgaria!

Are there any similarities we can expect between Singles’ Day and upcoming Black Friday?

- The ongoing threat from Covid-19 in the US will drive more customers to online versus in store shopping.

- Both events have moved away from the previous one-day event to offer several weeks of special pricing. It is possible that the move will drive holidays sales earlier than usual in the US.

- The event is not limited to a few players. It was not only Alibaba, as the creator of the event, that was successful in increasing sales this year. Competitors like JD.com and Suning.com all had successful sales with similar set ups. In the US, we can expect more or less all retailers to jump start holiday sales early with Black Friday offerings.

There are a few differences between the two events.

- Do not expect the entertainment piece of the event to be transferred over from China. For example, every year Alibaba puts on a huge event gala with a concert. The concert usually brings in global stars to perform. In the US though, Black Friday sales get lots of word of mouth just by being held during the family gathering and festivities that is Thanksgiving.

- The United States’ population does not compare to that of China, so the US sales will likely not exceed the GDP of Luxemburg or Bulgaria.

Interested in reading more? Check out this article from South China Morning Post on the event https://bit.ly/2IsZNW2

GDP per countries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)

Image: Markus Spiske / Unsplash.