Singles’ Day

The biggest online shopping day in the world is, contrary to what you may think, not Black Friday or Cyber Monday. No, the biggest one is Singles’ Day (November 11). Actually, online sales on Singles Day’ are so huge that they actually surpass the combined sales of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

In 2019, a mind-blowing 1.9 billion products got sold on this day alone! In 2020, the BBC reported that robot cleaners, vacuums and toolboxes were expected to be big sellers that year. Only time will tell what this year’s hit products with look like.

What Is Singles’ Day and When Did It Start?

Originally, Singles’ Day was only a day for celebrating being single. The date, November 11 with its four number ones, was chosen because the number one resembles a bare stick – the symbol for an unmarried in Chinese internet slang. This unofficial holiday seems to have started in a Chinese dormitory—Nanjing University to be precise—in 1993, from where it quickly spread to other regions.

Today, Singles’ Day has turned into something quite different. First and foremost, it is now the world’s biggest online shopping day. In 2020, Singles’ Day sales for Chinese online commerce company Alibaba reached 75 billion USD, a 26% increase that meant that the sales record from the previous year had been broken once again.

In recent years, Singles’ Day has also become the most popular wedding day in China. It is also a popular day for blind dates. In other words, contrary to what one may think it’s not exactly a day for celebrating the joys of single life.

When Is Singles’ Day?

Since 1993, Singles’ Day has been celebrated annually on November 11.

Singles’ Day 2022 Social Media Post Ideas

Singles’ Day is massive on social media in China in particular, but also in the Western world. Since China’s Singles’ Day has never been about actual singles, only about online shopping, it is probably best to stick to showcasing your amazing products and offering considerable discounts and exclusive Singles’ Day products. Having said that, there is nothing wrong about targeting singles on Singles’ Day. After all, it would be a lost opportunity not to, right?

• Post Idea 1: Create an exclusive product for Singles’ Day. This product could be aimed at singles, especially if your target audience is mostly single. Remember to tease the product already well before product launch. Instagram and Facebook Stories is the perfect medium for this. Videos with sneak-peeks of the product should do the trick. Then, on the big day, you should have people already eagerly waiting for your product to launch. If your product is a limited Singles’ Day exclusive, remember to prepare in advance a post where you thank everybody who bought the product and offer an alternative for those who didn’t manage to get their hands on the product this time.
• Post Idea 2: Offer an amazing discount. Offering a fantastic discount for everybody on Singles’ Day must be the oldest trick in the book, but it works. For best results, tease the discount a bit in advance and build hype for the product launch already a bit in advance. Consider making the best discounts limited: first 50 people get the product for -90%, the next 50 for -80% etc.

Singles’ Day Hashtags

There are a few important hashtags that are used on Singles’ Day in the USA and the rest of the English-speaking world. Here is a list of hashtags related to SIngles’ Day:

• #singlesday
• #singlesdaysale
• #singlesday2022
• #singlesdaydeal
• #singlesdaypromo
• #singlesdayspecial

In addition to these hashtags, small businesses should also use other popular hashtags, such as:

• #smallbusiness
• #supportsmallbusiness
• #handmade
• #shoplocal
• #shopsmall
• #supportlocal
• #localbusiness

Whatever hashtags you use, make sure that they are relevant to your product and your niche. Most importantly, use hashtags that you think your target customer would use. Instagram allows you to use up to 30 hashtags, but going for fewer, but more targeted ones, probably makes more sense and will make you look less spammy.

Singles’ Day 2022 Quotes

When choosing suitable Singles’s Day quotes, it is good to remember that (in the West) this is a shopping holiday, not a day for really discussing single life in general. For this reason we have chosen fun shopping quotes that can go well together with whatever promotion you are running on this day.

Online Shopping Quotes For Singles’ Day:

• “Online shopping. No makeup. No pants. No problem.”
• “Happiness is receiving what you ordered online”
• “Stay home and shop online. You are too pretty to have to look for a parking spot.”
• “I love buying things online, because when they arrive it’s like a gift to me from me”
• “Stay home and shop online”
• “Shopping is cheaper than a psychiatrist”
• “The worst part of online shopping is having to get up and get your card out of the wallet.”

Retail Shopping Quotes For Singles’ Day:

• “Whoever said that money can’t buy happiness simply didn’t know where to go shopping” – Bo Derek
• “Happiness is not in money, but in shopping” – Marilyn Monroe
• “I am not a shopaholic. I’m helping the economy.”
• “Shopping is my cardio” – Carrie Bradshaw (from Sex and the City)
• “If you can’t stop thinking about it. Buy it”

Singles’ Day Facts & Trivia

• Singles’ Day has been a major online shopping holiday since 2009, when Alibaba first ran a big online sale on November 11.
• Alibaba’s sales on Singles’ Day have increased each year ever since its inauguration in 2009, going from 7 million USD to 75 billion USD in 2020.
• In 2020, the number of orders peaked at an astounding 583,000 orders per second.
• Due to COVID-19, the 2020 Singles’ Day ran for longer than the usual 24 hours: from November 1 to November 11.
• An increasing number of foreign brands participate in China’s Singles’ Day: in 2020 over 31,000 brands from outside China took part.
• Singles’ Day sales in 2020 were over 7 times bigger than Amazon Prime Day sales: $74.1 billion versus $10.4 billion in sales.
• Interestingly enough, Singles’ Day is now the most popular wedding day in China.
• 2020 was the year when luxury brands “found” Singles’ Day: the number of luxury brands participating doubled to over 200 from the year before.
• Ever heard of live stream shopping? Chinese customers have. In recent years live streams with celebrities showcasing products on Singles’ Day have become more and more common. The hosts of these live streams often give away special discount coupons and offer flash deals to the viewers.
• The success of Singles’ Day has made it spread to other parts of the world in recent years. In the UK, Singles’ Day sales in 2020 were expected to reach £1.44bn.

Sources: Practical Ecommerce, The Drum & Live Area

Singles’ Day Deals

Currently we don’t know about the deals related to the Singles’ Day. We will update the article with new deals closer to November 11th. So, come back for more information.