November 11 is usually associated with the end of World War I. It is also the day of the celebration of singles.
November 11 and its commemoration
November 11 pays tribute to the heroes of yesterday and today. This is the date of the armistice between France and Germany. The end of the war will be declared by the treaties of Versailles on June 28, 1919.
Every year, ceremonies are held to honor soldiers who have died in battle. In Paris, the flame of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe is revived every day, in memory of the men who fell for their country. This armistice is celebrated throughout the world, foreign battalions having helped to liberate France.
Singles Day
In a completely different field, November 11 is the “Singles Day”. Originally from China, it is a celebrated day of festivity for young Chinese. She emphasizes the pride of being single and also the opportunity to break this celibacy. Literally, its translation means: 光 棍 节 (guānggùn jié)- “Feast of the dry branches” (boys alone). It is also called 独 身 节 (dú shēn jié)- “Singles’ Day” or 光 棍 儿 (solitary man).
Meaning and origin
International Singles Day has been around since 1993. Created by a small group of students from Nanjing, it has allowed them to show their pride in being single. it is spreading across the country very quickly. It comes from the composition of its date: 11/11. In China, the number “1” represents individuality, 11/11 represents 4 singles. In addition, the “1” reminds us of the shape of a “bare stick” which means in a Chinese expression “single” through the metaphor of the separate and isolated tree branch.
On this occasion, they meet with friends in bars, karaoke and restaurants but always without mentioning the wedding. Everyone pays their share in order to mark their independence. This cultural event often takes place on campuses. For others on the contrary, the “double 11” 双 – (shuang shiyi) is an opportunity, just like Valentine’s Day in the West, to declare its flame. Some establishments offer evening meetings to ensure that young people find a future husband or wife.
The other explanation is the legend paying homage to a Roman monk during the reign of Emperor Claudius. It is said that the Government banned marriages in order to send more young people to war. However, the monk overruled and decided to perform clandestine marriages. As a result, he was imprisoned, tortured and died on November 11.
Since its creation in China, the festival has become very popular. In recent years, it has mainly become a commercial event on online sales sites.
Its commercial role
Every year, this day has become the time to do business. It offers monster sales that are supposed to benefit single people with higher purchasing power. In the 2010s, it became one of the most important online sales days in the world.
The “Double 11” is considered to be the most lucrative commercial promotion in the world. Online sales exploded that day, trending ahead of Black Friday. (Black Friday is a one-day commercial event in the United States and Canada. It takes place on the Friday after the Thanksgiving holiday).
It is therefore important that this commercial event increases consumption and stimulates the economy further. The country has overcome the crisis of the Covid thanks to digital. It should serve as a catalyst for long-term economic growth.
Who is behind this “day of madness”?
The Covid crisis has impacted the global economy, but it has enabled the development of e-commerce. Moreover, as they could not move, the singles chose to go to the meeting sites. This new clientele consists of more than 100 million people.
The “Singles’ Day”, a hunt for bargains, is the world’s biggest e-commerce event. Orchestrated by the electronic commerce giant Alibaba, since 2009, this event has been emulated by all its competitors including JD.com and Pinduoduo. For the first time this year, promotions started as early as November 1. Until today, the top start of the discounts was on November 11th at 00h.
Alibaba Group Records
Like every year, the group and its various platforms (including Taobao and Tmall) have achieved sales records during this day. Last year, Alibaba – which alone accounts for half of China’s e-commerce – posted revenues of €34.74 billion in 24 hours, up 26% from a year earlier. This represented half of the last quarterly turnover of its American rival, Amazon.
This year, the company combined 250,000 brands to offer benefits and discounts on some 14 million products to customers. Its president, Jack Ma, said he had made “47.7 billion euros since November 1”. He revealed that “Chinese consumers spent online, their first billion dollars (including shipping costs) in just 68 seconds”. At midnight, consumers took advantage of the best deals with computers and phones. We can see that the “Double 11” now exceeds “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” combined. The “Double 11” owes its success to the “livestreaming”, practical, widespread in China and currently experienced in France. It consists of a detailed presentation, via live video, of products by an influencer or influencer. The appearance of world stars (Taylor Swift, Mariah Carey, Miranda Kerr, Cirque du Soleil ) helps boost sales.
This
The trend is linked to the pandemic and the fact that the Chinese had to stay home. It is also because of the fact that the number of singles is increasing (almost 50.2% in the USA, more than 200 million in China; in Sweden, more than one in 2 people live alone). As a result, the needs are different, the way of living (household tasks, time at work, …) and the purchasing power too.
While overseas travel is temporarily limited, Chinese consumers have discovered more than 2,600 new foreign brands, thanks to Tmall Global. Alibaba’s cross-border e-commerce platform, Kaola showcased products from 89 countries and regions.
No less than 2 million local physical merchants, grocery stalls, community supermarkets and breakfast (not connected by conventional digital means) were present at the festival. The Alipay mobile wallet served as an information center and payment method.
In this context, the group hopes to raise US$15 billion in Hong Kong during an IPO that could take place soon. Indeed, activity has been restarting in China since the spring. The country may be the only country to achieve positive growth in 2020, despite a nearly stalled quarter.
For JD.com, another e-commerce giant, the cumulative orders from November 1 to November 11 inclusive, reached 271.5 billion yuan this year. The volume of orders from its logistics companies increased by 102% year-on-year and the volume of personal express orders grew by 164%.
The “Double 11”: an international concept
After its success in China, Alibaba is expanding beyond its borders. More than 220 countries now have access to promotions like the USA, Brazil or Russia or Germany. France is starting to open its doors (in 2019, 11,111 customers of Carrefour were able to benefit from an immediate discount of 11%).
For the 2020 vintage, Alibaba announced its result, the group broke last year’s record with 63.9 billion euros for the period from November 1 to 11, 2020. It adds that 31,766 foreign brands participated in this event and the sales of 450 of them have exceeded 100 million yuan. Domestic and foreign brands include Apple, L’Oréal, Haier, Estée Lauder, Nike, Huawei, Midea, Lancôme, Xiaomi and Adidas. The number of orders exceeded 2.25 billion, which is the equivalent of the total number of packages generated in China in 2010.
See you next year in better conditions to celebrate the “Fête du shopping”, always with such success.
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