Single’s Day in China has become the largest online shopping event since it launched in 2009. What started as a one-day thing, has turned into a two-week sprint for physical and digital retailers alike. It's become bigger than America's biggest shopping days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

In 2023, Alibaba and JD.com reported record Singles Day sales, with an estimated $156 billion, almost double the worth of sales in 2021. In the US, Singles Day generated over $3.2 billion in online sales, a mere sliver of action compared to China.

There’s a lot to learn from the way the manufactured holiday has blossomed into an extreme, nearly instantaneous moneymaker—lessons you can apply to your own growing business.

What is Singles Day?

Singles Day, celebrated on November 11, is a sales event that originated in China. But it wasn’t always a shopping bonanza. In fact, it began as a kind of anti-Valentine's Day—a day for singles to treat and celebrate themselves in the same way couples and families get celebrated at various milestones. Think Carrie Bradshaw and the Sex and the City episode ‘A woman’s right to shoes’. Since then, it has become the biggest online shopping day in China, bigger than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.

Why is Singles Day celebrated?

In Chinese numerology, numbers carry a ton of significance. While the number one can signify a win (ie. first place), it also represents loneliness or a solo relationship status. The holiday started at Nanjing University as a way for students to celebrate their singledom (it was founded by four single young men, which is why it was originally called Bachelor’s Day). It’s also known as the “bare sticks holiday” because of the way four ‘1s’ appear in the calendar.

The Chinese holiday caught on, particularly among young people, in 2009, when Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma harnessed the day’s moneymaking potential by offering mega deals to swarms of shoppers. Singles Day is now celebrated in many countries around the world, like Malaysia, Australia, the UK, India, and Russia.

How is Singles Day different from Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) is a traditionally U.S.-based Thanksgiving weekend sales event, which started in bricks-and-mortar and moved to ecommerce over the following years. Despite Asia Pacific’s lack of a Thanksgiving holiday weekend, BFCM has been embraced in the region, outstripping the sales of both Clickfrenzy and the traditional Boxing Day sales. If leveraged effectively, this type of special seasonal sales event can make the year of some retailers.

Singles Day is concentrated primarily within ecommerce marketplace Alibaba and its affiliate sites, Taobao (consumer to consumer) and Tmall (business to consumer)—for now. Tmall is actually the driver of Singles Day, and more than 200,000 brands on its site offered deeply discounted items this year.

\"Image\" — Image of screen showing Singles Day sales in 2019

[CAPTION] Singles Day sales surpassed RMB 10 billion in 1 minute and 36 seconds in 2019. Forbes

Despite the concentration of sales to these major outlets, the event has grown to almost eight times the size of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which is unheard of. Another major difference, though? You’re unlikely to find Western brands such as Apple, although you can increasingly find products from companies including Dyson and Spanish beauty company MartiDerm.

Why should you observe Singles Day?

The obvious advantage of a boost in sales aside, singles should be celebrated, too. There are many milestones couples achieve which are celebrated with gifts, but beyond the simple birthday, singles have no celebrated occasions.

Singles are also a relatively untapped market, and yet have higher disposable incomes than the traditional nuclear family. Whether young, newly divorced or retired, singles are on the rise; some 27% of US households are home to one person, and this trend is being replicated globally.

Why is Singles Day so successful?

It probably helps that Alibaba is the world’s biggest ecommerce company with sales outpacing eBay and Amazon combined—and its sales are bottom-of-the-barrel cheap. The sales platform and its affiliates sell wholesale items as well as direct-to-consumer and it also allows shoppers to sell to one another as well. The Singles Day sales are complete steals: One yea, Alibaba had Bluetooth earbuds on offer for $1.50–$6.90 for TWO pairs.

The incredibly low prices of these products must have something to do with the sales platform’s wild Singles Day success. A post on Quora by a merchandiser who uses Alibaba said the site is so cheap because of the low cost of labor in China, the way the site sells in bulk (why not buy two pairs of Bluetooth earbuds if they’re only $6?), the low cost of electricity and less consumer targeting.

Why is there less consumer targeting? Because the site is mostly set up to sell to merchandisers, who are stocking their own shops with these products. That said, Alibaba does have a wholesale market that sells products to individuals for personal use, as well as Aliexpress.com — both participants in Singles Day.

There is, however, some skepticism about the sales reporting Alibaba is claiming related to Singles Day. According to The New York Times, “The big numbers that Alibaba likes to show off on Singles Day are not a perfect gauge of how all this might be affecting middle-class China’s appetite for retail therapy.” Alibaba reports gross merchandise volume, which represents the total value of orders on its platforms, the Times says—something that, in actuality, is pretty hard to track because, the Times reports, there is no standardized way of measuring it.

Singles Day strategies for retailers

Participation in Singles Day is quickly becoming a requirement for any international brand interested in tapping the massive Chinese market. Start folding the event into your growth plans if you’d like to expand into that global ecommerce goldmine.

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Mobile first. Estimates show that mobile users worldwide stand at 7.41 billion. That’s a lot of mobile shoppers ready to browse your site. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly and fast to encourage sales.
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Put treats on sale, not just essentials. This is a day for singles to treat and nurture themselves, so think special events, travel, beauty and hair, clothes and fashion, and even dating apps, to pamper singles on their special day.
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Be a place for community. Now more than ever, brands are becoming a way for like-minded people to meet and connect in an online environment. People can share and discuss what they love about their favorite brands (and give brands good insight into their customers in the process). Encourage and facilitate a healthy, online community based on positivity and shared values—it could be a way for singles to meet!
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Make it about value and appreciation. The traditional platforms involved in this event make it well worth the shoppers while, with steep discounts and special offers across a variety of products. To be noticed, make it big—small discounts and non-offers won’t cut it.
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Leverage social media and influencers. Use platforms like Weibo, WeChat, and Douyin (TikTok in China) to promote your products. Collaborating with influencers can significantly boost visibility.
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Offer fast and reliable shipping. Customers expect their orders to be delivered promptly and without any damage or errors. By partnering with reputable local couriers who have a proven track record for on-time deliveries, you can enhance the customer experience. For instance, offering next-day delivery for metropolitan areas and ensuring that customers receive real-time tracking updates can significantly boost appeal.
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Have customer support in Mandarin. Your company can better serve customers in Mandarin-speaking regions by having a local customer service team available around the clock. In addition to handling inquiries, resolving issues, and providing post-purchase support, they can handle inquiries, resolve issues, and provide live chat, email, and social media support.

Singles Day FAQs

Why is 11.11 Singles Day?

November 11th (11.11) is Singles Day because the number '1' represents someone who is alone. Although it's not an officially recognized public holiday, this date was specifically chosen as a symbol of single people.

What is the history of Singles Day?

As a way to celebrate singles, Singles Day was invented at Nanjing University in 1993. Originally, it was just a day for young singles to celebrate their single status or look for a partner, but soon spread to become a popular day for singles in China.

What is China's Singles Day and how is it celebrated?

November 11th is China's Singles Day, a day for singles to celebrate their status. In the last few years, it's turned into one of the biggest online shopping days in the world, far surpassing Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

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COVID-19 has upended the world as we know it, shuttering businesses and snapping billions of wallets shut for anything but essentials. Call it a COVID-19 cash flow crisis—a true emergency for businesses that have seen a tremendous drop in sales thanks to coronavirus making us all shut-ins, or a stressful whirlwind for those who can’t keep up with the demand for hand sanitizer, weighted blankets and noise-canceling headphones our customers want without that preparation for a sudden spike in demand. Having to pay rent for retail locations and keep staff on payroll is an additional challenge when you’re not actually using that space to move product.

For nearly every business, cash flow is synonymous with survival. And retailers in China are facing down a really tricky short-term future that could serve as a crystal ball for the rest of us: A new survey from Tsinghua University and Peking University, shared via Deloitte, projected that if the COVID-19 crisis doesn’t significantly improve soon, about 85% of small- to medium-sized businesses in China will run out of cash within three months, while two thirds will be cashless within two.

But there is good news: There are plenty of creative ways you can keep cash flow going in these unprecedented times.

Here are some sources to consider:

Manage cash flow by mitigating costs
Sell gift cards to boost your cash inflow
Short-term cash flow strategies
Funding from government relief programs
Equity-free funding from Shopify Capital

Don't have time to read the full article? We brought in financial experts from New York accounting firm Lumsden McCormick, LLP to share strategies. Watch the webinar.

\nManage cash flow by mitigating costs

If you have a retail storefront right now in a COVID-impacted country, your revenue stream has likely seen a significant dip. That’s cash inflow from sales, explains Shopify Product Marketing Lead Jeannie Nguyen. But cash flow management goes two ways—there’s inflow and outflow of cash to deal with too.

We've put together a cash flow calculator to help you get a comprehensive understanding of your cash flow in 5 minutes or less.

Your cash outflow would be any cash that must be paid out, including major costs such as rent or leases, hydro and electricity, staff payroll, inventory, insurance and any other expenses associated with running your business. While these costs are still looming, there may be ways to mitigate them, considering the magnitude of the pandemic and its impact on everyone’s business.

There will be cost savings in this time of crisis. You could think about alternate or temporary staffing solutions and maybe even make a deal with your landlord for reduced or deferred rent, Nguyen suggests.

You could also speak with your insurance broker. Freeing up some cash from the expenses you can mitigate while operating online can give you a longer cash run rate and help keep you going.

\nSell gift cards to boost your cash inflow

Shuttering retail stores due to COVID-19 public health and safety measures has been incredibly tough on businesses. But take heart in this: Customers do want to help support the brands they love. And they can continue to do that by buying gift cards made available by retailers online.

“If a merchant can sell gift cards today during this time, they’re getting the cash now,” Nguyen says. “That will help with their cash flow. It also incentivizes their customers to shop with them either now or later.”

Merchants can further incentivize their customers to snap up gift cards by offering them discounts for redemption at a later date, adds Shopify Senior Product Marketing Manager Anthony Kentris. He suggests gathering a list of customers that purchased a gift card and, when consumer spending picks up again, businesses could send specific campaigns to these buyers and encourage them to spend more than that gift card amount. “Maybe it’s a collection with bundled products, or a percentage discount if they spend over a set amount of dollars—anything that will encourage them to spend a little bit more when they redeem that gift card,” he says.

This may not only help with managing cash flow, but also customer loyalty—think of it as a way of thanking a shopper for supporting your business through that tough time by buying a gift card when the pandemic hit. You can also consider partnering with another retailer who sells similar items or is located in your local community to help boost gift card sales.

If you’re on Shopify, learn how to offer and activate gift cards.

\nShort-term cash flow strategies

Make a deal with your suppliers

While you’re thinking about reducing your expenses—having that chat with your landlord, the bank etc.—you can also look to suppliers for a bit of a break and a new arrangement while COVID-19 impacts both of your business, Kentris suggests.

“One way to hold onto working capital is to take longer to pay suppliers.” Reach out sooner rather than later to see if you can come up with some kind of agreement that works for both of you in the short term, he says.

That should help preserve the integrity and longevity of that crucial relationship for the long run.

You can also consider pausing standing orders with suppliers. If you’re selling product that isn’t really in high demand right now, maybe you want to slow down production to avoid being stuck with inventory you can’t sell, Kentris says. “If this applies to you, rethink standing orders for raw materials and press pause on any auto-replenishing algorithms until you know more.” It might be a helpful way to delay future payments. “The sooner you can cancel or defer the order, the better for your supplier relationship.”

Discounting products

One surefire way to move product is by offering deals. As the above gift card strategy showed, you can bundle up inventory you’d like to get out the door through a gift card incentive offer. Or you can simply put items up for sale that you would like to speed through your inventory chain, Kentris says.

“If you’ve got items that are underperforming or you’ve got a big stockpile of them, now’s your chance to free up cash” by putting them on sale. You may not be able to get as decent a markup as you would’ve in less turbulent times, but at least you’ll have cash coming into your business while also selling off your inventory, especially if your products are subject to seasonality. Your main goal right now as a retailer is to not be sitting on cash held up in inventory or deadstock, which could make up about 20-30% of what you have on hand.

You can try to get that product moving by using inventory management or reporting apps to prioritize your items by value. An ABC inventory analysis will help you figure out which items create value for your business: A-grade items are the most valuable, B-grade are “middle of the road” and C-grade are low-value products that maybe don’t haul in the big bucks individually but together account for lots of small transactions. Sell those C-grade products! Bundle them, heavily discount them or sell them to liquidation retailers to help free up that cash flow to spend on stock that will actually sell at this time or in the near future.

After all, consumers do still seem willing to buy. Shopping is down across the board, but some brick-and-mortar demand has been transferred online since stores had to close during the pandemic. A survey from Engine Insights finds consumers have boosted their online shopping by 11% since the beginning of March, and new data from Statista finds shoppers in the United States have deliberately shifted their shopping to online since being confined at home, with 30% saying they’ve bought clothing and 27% saying they’ve bought health products online since COVID-19 hit.

Filling a niche through fulfillment or product

Businesses can also take advantage of the restrictions major marketplaces have placed on themselves, such as how Amazon is only delivering essentials to homes, Nguyen says. If you’re able to do curbside delivery or send expedited parcels at a manageable expense, you can tap the market Amazon hasn’t been hitting due to those parameters they’ve now set.

Another strategy for increasing future cash flow could be the investigation of expansion into higher demand products: If you’re a more going-out-clothing brand, consider pivoting to sweats or other types of loungewear, Kentris suggests. “If you don’t know how long this will go on for, you can make some bets now” in terms of consumer demand.

\nFunding from government relief programs

To protect the public, some governments have ordered businesses to close up shop. These same governments are now taking steps to protect those businesses by offering economic relief programs. Accessing this government financial support is a good way to mitigate cash flow concerns.

The United States has offered low-interest loans of up to US$2 million USD through their Small Business Administration arm of government. Many states and cities have set up relief programs for their businesses—the City of Los Angeles, for example, is offering low interest loans between$5000 USD and $20,000 USD to help with job retention, while the state of Michigan is handing out grants of up to $10,000 USD for businesses with fewer than 50 employees and low interest loans between $50,000 and $200,000 USD for those with fewer than 100 staff.

The United Kingdom and Canada are offering federal wage relief and tax deferral plans for business owners, including a 75% wage subsidy for business owners, announced by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Moreover, Canada has a specific relief plan devoted to cash flow: An offer to cover up to 90% of purchase order amount via the Business Development Bank of Canada to help maintain that relationship business owners have with their suppliers.

Shopify has amassed a great list of government funding initiatives announced since the COVID-19 outbreak (updated regularly).

\nEquity-free funding from Shopify Capital

“All of our merchants need cash right now. Having cash is what will keep your business safe and afloat until we know this is over,” Nguyen says. And in the face of uncertainty, investors have slowed down or, in some cases, stopped financing businesses.

In another spot of good news, Shopify has your back. Shopify Capital offers funding to help businesses access working capital quickly and accelerate their business growth at crucial moments. Since 2016, Shopify Capital has advanced ~US$885 million in funding, helping thousands of businesses on the Shopify platform. Best of all? We’ve been doing it without requiring equity in your business, and it’s fast—the money lands in your account within a couple of days after approval. You don’t need to pitch and your credit score will be unaffected.

LIFE Clothing Co., a Los Angeles-based lifestyle apparel brand, has taken three Shopify Capital advances to help invest in product, improve the quality of its product images and scale its pay-per-click advertising strategy.

“You’ve got to have money to make money,” Danny Banafsheian of LIFE Clothing Co. told Shopify in 2018, adding that, by his estimate, Shopify Capital accelerated the clothing brand’s sales by approximately nine months.

Shopify Capital is paid back via a percentage of your daily sales—on days where your sales are higher, you pay back more; on days where your sales are lower, you pay back less. This repayment structure is built to flex to your business.

Nothing seems easy as the world navigates the new terms of this pandemic, but Shopify Capital really is: Eligible businesses will get an offer (check in your Shopify admin). Even better? It’s 100% digital and once you click to accept, the funds will be deposited in your bank account within two business days after approval.

Shopify Capital recently expanded to provide support in more countries and is now available to customers in the United Kingdom and Canada.

“This is a small part of our efforts to bring capital to more places and more merchants internationally, to help them better weather the storm,” Shopify COO Harley Finkelstein said in a video message tweeted from his account March 30.

“Most businesses have a hard time getting the money they need. That's because big banks and traditional lenders don't understand the needs of independent business owners,” Shopify Vice President and General Manager Kaz Nejatian says. “With Shopify Capital, we’re giving businesses a simple, fast and convenient way to get the money they need to start, run and grow their business.”

Keeping up cash flow is an investment in your business, whether that’s reimagining it in the post-pandemic era or simply weathering the storm. Cash flow concerns in the time of COVID-19 needn’t spell the end of your business. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: You’ve got this.

Get financial planning strategies to protect your business during a pandemic

Watch our webinar with financial experts from accounting firm Lumsden McCormick, LLP.

Watch the webinar

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Sarah Boesveld is a Toronto-based freelance journalist who has been a staff reporter for Chatelaine, The National Post, and The Globe and Mail.

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