Singles' Day

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Unofficial Chinese shopping holiday

title: "Singles' Day" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1990s-neologisms", "autumn-in-china", "marriage-in-chinese-culture", "november-observances", "public-holidays-in-china", "unofficial-observances"] description: "Unofficial Chinese shopping holiday" topic_path: "geography/china" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singles'_Day" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Unofficial Chinese shopping holiday ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox holiday"]

FieldValue
holiday_nameSingles' Day
imageSingles' day illustration.png
captionAn illustration for the Chinese e-commerce holiday Singles' Day
altThe numbers "11.11", beneath which are characters in Chinese (Simplified) "光棍节", which translates to "Singles Day"
observedbyChinese
duration1 day
frequencyAnnual
schedulingsame day each year
date11 November
celebrationsShopping, festivals, clubs/bars
typeCommercial
significanceBiggest shopping day in the world
::

| holiday_name = Singles' Day | image = Singles' day illustration.png | caption = An illustration for the Chinese e-commerce holiday Singles' Day | alt = The numbers "11.11", beneath which are characters in Chinese (Simplified) "光棍节", which translates to "Singles Day" | observedby = Chinese | duration = 1 day | frequency = Annual | scheduling = same day each year | date = 11 November | celebrations = Shopping, festivals, clubs/bars | type = Commercial | significance = Biggest shopping day in the world

Singles' Day () or Double 11 () is an unofficial Chinese holiday for people who are not in a relationship. The date, 11 November (11/11), was chosen because the numeral 1 resembles a bare stick (), Chinese Internet slang for an unmarried man. The four "1"s also refer to the demographic group of single people. Ironically, the holiday has become a popular date on which to celebrate relationships: more than 4,000 couples got married in Beijing on this date in 2011, far greater than the daily average of 700 marriages.

Originally, the date was celebrated by a small group of college bachelors, but in 2009 Alibaba's CEO Daniel Zhang began to use the day as a 24-hour holiday that offered online shopping discounts and offline entertainment. The holiday has now become the largest physical retail and online shopping day in the world, and spread to Southeast Asia. Rivals of Alibaba, such as JD.com, host Singles' Day festivals as well, which garnered US$19.1 billion, bringing the Chinese total to US$44.5 billion total sales volume in 2017. Alibaba shoppers exceeded 213.5 billion yuan (US$30.7 billion) in total spend during 2018 Singles Day. In 2019, Alibaba said that its gross merchandise volume for the whole event came in at 268.4 billion yuan (US$38.4 billion), an increase of 26% from the previous year. In 2021, Alibaba and JD reached a new combined Singles Day sales record of US$139 billion.

In 2022, neither Alibaba nor JD.com disclosed Singles' Day sales results as China continued to face macroeconomic headwinds and zero-COVID-19 challenges, but Alibaba said its results were "in line with [2021's] GMV performance", while JD.com said it set a record-breaking Singles' Day event.

In 2025, Singles' Day generated more than US$150 billion in annual sales, exceeding those on Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day combined.

Origins

Singles' Day, or Bachelors' Day, originated at Nanjing University in 1993. Singles' Day celebrations spread to several other universities in Nanjing in the 1990s. 11 November (11/11), consisting of four 1s, was chosen as it represents four singles.

There are several ideas explaining the creation of the Singles' Day festival. The most widely accepted idea is that the holiday grew out of Nanjing University's dorm culture. One origin story is that in 1993, four male students of Nanjing University's Mingcaowuzhu (all single men) dorm discussed how they could break away from the monotony of being single and agreed that 11 November would be a day of events and celebrations in honor of being single. These activities spread through the university and eventually made their way into wider society. The spread increased with social media use, and the event has become increasingly popular within contemporary Chinese culture and society.

Description

::data[format=table title="[[JD.com|JD]] sales on Singles' Day"]

YearRMB (billions)Growth20212020201920182017
url=https://www.marketwatch.com/story/alibaba-jd-com-shares-rise-as-singles-day-comes-to-a-close-11636652628title=Alibaba, JD.com shares rise as Singles Day comes to a closedate=11 November 2021access-date=12 November 2021archive-date=17 November 2021archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211117140212/https://www.marketwatch.com/story/alibaba-jd-com-shares-rise-as-singles-day-comes-to-a-close-11636652628url-status=live}}+28.6%
url=https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2020-11-12/doc-iiznezxs1362130.shtmltitle=双11落幕：天猫4982亿 京东2715亿 小米也是大赢家date=12 November 2020access-date=14 February 2021archive-date=15 July 2022archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715073536/https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2020-11-12/doc-iiznezxs1362130.shtmlurl-status=live}}
204.4
159.8
127.1
::

::data[format=table title="[[Alibaba Group|Alibaba]] sales on Singles' Day"]

YearUSD (billions)RMB (billions)Growth2021202020192018201720162015201420132012201120102009
author=Emily Barytitle=Alibaba, JD.com shares rise as Singles Day comes to a closeurl=https://www.marketwatch.com/story/alibaba-jd-com-shares-rise-as-singles-day-comes-to-a-close-11636652628accessdate=11 November 2021work=Market Watcharchive-date=17 November 2021archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211117140212/https://www.marketwatch.com/story/alibaba-jd-com-shares-rise-as-singles-day-comes-to-a-close-11636652628url-status=live}}540.3+8.5%
author=Sherisse Phamtitle=Singles Day: Alibaba sales blitz rakes in $75 billion as Chinese shake off Covid-19url=https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/10/tech/singles-day-2020-alibaba-intl-hnk/index.htmlaccessdate=21 November 2020work=CNNarchive-date=4 August 2023archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230804135440/https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/10/tech/singles-day-2020-alibaba-intl-hnk/index.htmlurl-status=live}}498.2+85%
38.4268.4+26%
url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-11/alibaba-sets-singles-day-record-with-31-billion-in-salestitle=Alibaba Sets Singles' Day Record With $31 Billion in Salesdate=11 November 2018work=Bloombergaccess-date=12 November 2018archive-date=31 August 2019archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190831113640/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-11/alibaba-sets-singles-day-record-with-31-billion-in-salesurl-status=live}}210+27%
url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-12/alibaba-singles-day-goes-global-with-record-25-billion-in-salestitle=Alibaba's Singles' Day Goes Global With Record $25 Billion in Salesdate=12 November 2017work=Bloombergaccess-date=12 November 2017url-access=subscription}}170+39%
url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alibaba-singlesday/alibaba-posts-record-singles-day-sales-but-growth-slows-idUSKBN13605Xtitle=Alibaba posts record Singles' Day sales, but growth slowsdate=11 November 2016work=Reutersaccess-date=12 November 2018archive-date=9 May 2019archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190509172700/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alibaba-singlesday/alibaba-posts-record-singles-day-sales-but-growth-slows-idUSKBN13605Xurl-status=live}}120+32%
url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alibaba-singles-day/alibabas-singles-day-sales-surge-60-percent-to-14-3-billion-idUSKCN0SZ34J20151112title=Alibaba's Singles' Day sales surge 60 percent to $14.3 billiondate=12 November 2015work=Reutersaccess-date=12 November 2018archive-date=9 May 2019archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190509172658/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alibaba-singles-day/alibabas-singles-day-sales-surge-60-percent-to-14-3-billion-idUSKCN0SZ34J20151112url-status=live}}91+60%
url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-singles-day/alibaba-reports-record-9-billion-singles-day-sales-idUSKCN0IV0BD20141112title=Alibaba reports record $9 billion Singles' Day salesdate=12 November 2014work=Reutersaccess-date=12 November 2018archive-date=1 August 2019archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801041910/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-singles-day/alibaba-reports-record-9-billion-singles-day-sales-idUSKCN0IV0BD20141112url-status=live}}57+63%
535+83%
url=https://www.techinasia.com/china-ecommerce-sales-day-2012-tmall-taobaotitle=Tmall and Taobao See $3 Billion in Sales During China's 24-Hour Online Shopfestdate=12 November 2012work=Tech in Asiaaccess-date=12 November 2012archive-date=9 May 2019archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190509172659/https://www.techinasia.com/china-ecommerce-sales-day-2012-tmall-taobaourl-status=live}}19+270%
url=https://qz.com/1450338/10-years-of-singles-day-in-china-the-shopping-festival-alibaba-invented/title=Ten years of Singles' Day, China's ridiculously huge shopping festivaldate=9 November 2018work=Quartzaccess-date=12 November 2018archive-date=29 October 2019archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191029120946/https://qz.com/1450338/10-years-of-singles-day-in-china-the-shopping-festival-alibaba-invented/url-status=live}}5+460%
0.10.9+1700%
0.010.05Ø
::

Singles' Day serves as an occasion for single people to meet and for parties to be organized. The holiday was initially only celebrated by young men, hence the initial name Bachelors' Day. However, it is now widely celebrated by both sexes. Blind date parties are popular on this day, in an attempt to alter the single status of the participants. Although this date is meant to celebrate singlehood, the desire to find a spouse or partner is often expressed by young Chinese people on this date, while other love-related issues are discussed by the Chinese media.

Shopping

The event is not an officially recognized public holiday in China, although it has become the largest offline and online shopping day in the world. Sales in Alibaba's e-commerce websites, Tmall and Taobao, have reached US$5.8 billion in 2013, US$9.3 billion in 2014, US$14.3 billion in 2015, US$17.8 billion in 2016, and over US$25.4 billion in 2017. JD.com also achieved a sales record of US$19.1 billion in 2017, while Lazada drums up US$123 million.

As more people join in the celebration of this holiday, many companies have taken the opportunity to target younger consumers including businesses such as restaurants, karaoke parlors, and online shopping malls. For example, the Chinese online shopping mall Taobao sold goods worth 19 billion CNY (about US$3 billion) on 11 November 2012.

On Singles' Day 2017, Alibaba set a world record for most payment transactions during the festival. Its mobile wallet app Alipay processed 256,000 payment transactions per second. A total of 1.48 billion transactions were processed by Alipay in the entire 24 hours.

In 2020, Singles' Day resulted in the mailing of four billion parcels.

Singles' Day is the world's largest online shopping event. The event is now nearly four times the size of America's biggest shopping days, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Cultural events

Singles' Day has become a cultural event. Alibaba usually hosts large celebratory festivals on the night before its biggest shopping day which have featured global celebrities including Nicole Kidman in 2017, Taylor Swift at Alibaba's Shanghai gala in 2019, and Katy Perry performing in a livestream in 2020. Not merely a shopping event but the holiday is also a day when people can party to socialize and meet other people, as well as practising traditions that celebrate the single life.

2011 marked the Singles Day of the Century (Chinese pinyin: Shiji Guanggun Jie) as this date had six "ones" rather than four, increasing the significance of the occasion. In 2011, an above-average number of marital celebrations occurred in Hong Kong and Beijing on 11 November.

Symbolism

The following symbolism has been associated with the special date:

  • 1: the digit 1 symbolizes an individual, a single person
  • 11: two individuals finding each other and being together on one side of the special date (11.11)
  • 2 x (11): a celebration of two or more couples, each comprising two single individuals finding each other on the special date (11.11)

Outside China

Singles' Day has since been popularized through the internet and is now observed at several places outside of China as well. The holiday has particularly grown in Southeast Asia, with customers in the Lazada's Southeast Asian marketplaces ordering 6.5 million items in 2017. In Indonesia, for example, 11 November is dubbed by some e-commerce websites as the "Harbolnas" (abbreviation of Hari Belanja Online Nasional, "National Online Shopping Day"), though it is usually took place on 12 December.

In the United Kingdom, National Singles Day is celebrated on 11 March. It was initiated by a group of internationally recognised dating experts in order to help singles either embrace their single status or "do something about it".

MediaMarkt, a German company, promotes Singles' Day in their stores. Belgian MediaMarkt also participates, but reactions have been negative, as 11 November is the anniversary of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 that ended World War I, and the day is associated with somber commemoration of the war dead in Belgium. In 2016, Swedish electronics retailer Elgiganten promoted a Singles Day campaign in Norway before implementing it in the other Nordic countries the following year.

Trademarks

The term "双十一" (Double 11) was trademarked in China by Alibaba Group on 28 December 2012, under registration numbers 10136470 and 10136420. In October 2014, Alibaba threatened legal action against media outlets that accept advertising from competitors that use this term.

References

References

  1. (20 August 2011). "Asian demography: The flight from marriage". [[The Economist]].
  2. (2021-11-12). "Singles' Day posts a record haul even at the slowest pace in a decade".
  3. Huy, Quy. (2019-12-11). "For Alibaba, Singles Day Is About More Than Huge Sales". Harvard Business Review.
  4. "How Alibaba made Singles' Day the world's largest shopping festival".
  5. (26 July 2018). "Singles Day 2017 Breaks Record with $44.5 Billion in Sales". SinglesDayBest.com.
  6. Haas, Benjamin. (12 November 2017). "Chinese shoppers spend a record $25bn in Singles Day splurge". The Guardian.
  7. C. Custer. (14 October 2014). "Tmall CEO: this year, Alibaba plans to take Singles Day global". Tech in Asia.
  8. (10 November 2019). "Alibaba's Singles' Day sales hit record $38 billion; growth slows". Reuters.
  9. Kharpal, Arjun. (2021-11-12). "Alibaba, JD smash Singles Day record with $139 billion of sales and focus on 'social responsibility'".
  10. (2022-11-12). "Alibaba, JD.com keep mum on this year's Singles' Day transaction volume".
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  12. (11 November 2014). "How China's Singles' Day Holiday Sold Out".
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  18. "一文读懂双11战报：京东累计下单超2044亿 阿里销售额达2684亿_腾讯新闻".
  19. "2018双十一全网销售总成绩：3143.2亿_京东".
  20. "【钛晨报】2017双11全网销售额达2539.7亿，手机销售额占比8.7%".
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  50. (11 December 2019). "Apa Itu Harbolnas yang Digelar pada 12.12 Besok?". tirto.id.
  51. (10 January 2017). "New UK Dating Fair Brings Singles & Brands Together To Mark National Singles Day".
  52. "Der Singles Day 2018".
  53. jdb, sir. "Dit weekend vieren we een nieuwe feestdag, en die is vooral interessant voor koopjesjagers". Het Nieuwsblad.
  54. Malmberg, Joakim. (8 November 2017). "'Singles Day', the world's biggest shopping fest, is finally coming to the Nordics". [[Business Insider]].
  55. Chin, Josh. (11 November 2011). "Chinese Couples Rush to the Altar on 11/11/11".
  56. Johnson, Eric. (6 November 2014). "The Chinese government has essentially given Alibaba the 'Double 11' market". InvestorPlace.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

1990s-neologismsautumn-in-chinamarriage-in-chinese-culturenovember-observancespublic-holidays-in-chinaunofficial-observances