Think Cyber Monday is a big deal? Well, it’s got nothing on China’s Singles Day. Thanks to an Alibaba marketing scheme that was born in 2009, the anti-Valentines Day holiday has become bigger than both Cyber Monday and Black Friday in the U.S.
Sales during the 24-hour period skyrocketed this year, with a record 278 million orders placed. Forbes reports that sales totaled $9.3 billion, making last year’s $5.8 billion total look like peanuts.
Alibaba has been hosting Singles Day sales since 2009 and it continues to grow each year. It shows how China’s hunger for goods has continued to grow and how Alibaba’s takeover of Chinese online commerce has strengthened.
According to The BBC, the holiday was meant to be a day reserved for those without a significant other since all four numbers in the date - 11/11 - are “bare sticks.”
Alibaba’s marketing has turned it into a consumer shopping day that’s now even bigger than Cyber Monday in the U.S. Most of the company’s sales are actually based at their Tmall and Tabao sites. People can put in pre-orders for items at Singles Day prices, although they don’t get charged until the day.
As USA Today reported back in December 2013, last year’s Cyber Monday in the U.S. set a new record, but it dwarfed Singles Day 2013. Sales totaled $2.29 billion in the U.S. on Cyber Monday 2013.