What is Singles Day?
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We all know about Black Friday and Cyber Monday as they are the biggest shopping days in the U.S., but China has an even bigger shopping day that was designed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA).
It is called Singles Day because it is on 11/11, honoring the number one and the people who are single and would like to treat themselves to something nice. The company has been selling the concept for years now, which has turned the day into more of a retail extravaganza than anything else.
In recent years, Singles Day has garnered more revenue than both Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined as Alibaba is the largest e-commerce retailer in the Eastern hemisphere. The holiday has been around since the mid-90s, but it has exploded since 2009 when the company turned it into an e-commerce event.
Although there is technically only one Singles Day every year, retailers capitalize on the buzz that precedes the day and start selling products at a great discount as early as three weeks prior to the event.
The shopping day raked in an impressive $17.8 billion, and this year has some wild offers including a lifetime supply of alcohol for $1,673. In the first hour of Singles Day last year, about 175,000 hours per second came in.
BABA shares popped 0.8% Friday.