(13th November 2017) Saturday the 11th marked the now infamous Singles Day 双十一 event in Alibaba’s headquarters in Hangzhou, China. What was so unique about this year’s event was the scale of transactions and method used of purchase. Over $25.3 Billion USD of transactions with over 90% of shoppers using online mobile platforms to buy. The day was filled with star studded appearances from Nicole Kidman and Pharrell.

What started out as a niche holiday for Chinese youth to celebrate being single has been re-appropriated by Alibaba to be an online retail frenzy. Within the past 5 years, Singles Day has become a widely celebrated event for young people. Unlike in Australia where we only have a day for couples, singles in China wanted to create a day that’s all about treating themselves. Just like days like Valentine’s Day, Singles Day has its own set of traditions. One is gift shops lined with puppy themed gifts. A popular friendly phrase in Chinese to describe single people loosely translates to “single puppy” 单身狗. This phrase brought about the idea of giving dog themed gifts to your single friend.

 

Today it’s not just about cute dog themed gifts. Alibaba have transformed this holiday to be the largest online shopping event in the world. Using the power of their online mall (TaoBao), merchants from around the world are contributing to the day. Although the origins of Singles Day dates back to 1993, online shopping has surged its popularity in Chinese youth and they’re coming out in force to buy big. Taobao is a popular e-mall in China connecting brands that may not already have a physical space in the country. The idea is that you would shop Taobao on Singles Day because of the one day sales.

RoyalPay is especially proud of this year’s Single Day because our client Rochford Wines is an honorary speaker at the event. As the representative for the Oceania region, Rochford joins an exclusive list of merchants who get to expose their brand to the Chinese market directly. Their sales manager will have the chance to speak and showcase all that Alipay and RoyalPay provided for their business. We are expecting that this will put on a spotlight on Rochford but also the efforts of Alipay and RoyalPay to develop the Alibaba platform here in Australia.

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