Singles’ Day (or Guanggun Jie) is celebrated in China on November 11, because this date is written with four ones. It was first celebrated in the 1990s by students from a university in Nanjing. Almost all of its students were males, so most of them had trouble finding a girlfriend. On 11/11 the singles went shopping, in the hope of comforting themselves somehow.
On Singles’ Day this year, Alibaba’s revenues exceeded $1 billion within 5 minutes of when the sale commenced, Chief Representative of AliExpress (an Alibaba Group member) Mark Zavadsky told Sputnik China.
“Within the first 15 hours of the world’s biggest global 24-hour online sale in China, Alibaba Group sold goods worth 91.20 billion yuan (13.40 billion dollars). It exceeds last year’s results,” Zavadsky said.
“We do not yet have any specific information on Russian products sold in China via internet platforms, but I know that Russian goods always sell successfully in China. I have spoken to the representatives of Russian companies that store their goods at the Tmall Glabal venue; they all were satisfied with their sales,” Zavadsky specified when asked about Russia.
According to Zavadsky, Russia is among the top three foreign markets of AliExpress, alongside the USA and Spain.
“In Russia the sale started at 11 a.m. Moscow time. We hope for success here too. We are keeping contact with Russian vendors, who work within the country,” Zavadsky said.
Total sales on Single’s Day, 2015 reached $14 billion. This year Alibaba raised the bar to $20 billion.
Alibaba decided to stir up buyers’ interest by inviting celebrities to the sale’s opening event. Among them were Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson, football players David Beckham and Thomas Müller, basketball player Kobe Bryant and the band One Republic.
