For International Brands, China’s Singles’ Day Dethrones Black Friday

You certainly know about “Black Friday”, but have you ever heard of “Singles’ Day” in China, or “Singles’ Day”, the 2020 edition of which ended with a record turnover of $74.1 billion for e-commerce giant Alibaba, sales up 93% compared to 2019?

Originally, it was the anti-Valentine’s Day celebrated in the Middle Kingdom, an opportunity to give each other gifts, which is why the operation took place on the symbolic dates of November 11 (11/11) or double 11.

The Alibaba-initiated commercial operation allowed you to enjoy promotional offers. In 2009, the first year of its launch, the event lasted 24 hours and featured 27 brands offering up to 50% off and free shipping. In just over 10 years, the event has become “THE” global shopping festival in all its glory. According to Jiang Fan, president of Tmall, the 2020 edition featured nearly 250,000 brands and about 800 million customers.

The record sales can be explained on the one hand by the opening of the pre-sale on October 21 and two sales windows, one in early November, the other on November 11, and on the other hand by the massive presence of vast groups affected by store closures in Europe or the United States.

In this way, Apple, L’Oréal, Estée Lauder, Nike, Lancôme and Adidas achieved more than $150 million in sales. It should be emphasized that this shopping holiday in China is not based solely on price reductions (as is the case with year-end trading operations in the United States), but offers a multitude of events such as the presence of stars like Michael Jordan this year, concerts broadcast live in front of millions of potential customers, and above all restricted offers that attract luxury houses. In this way, Cartier would present $28 million necklace during an event broadcast live to over 800,000 viewers. Finally, another distinguishing element, particularly attractive to luxury groups, is the presence of “KOL” (Key Opinion Leaders), who highlight the brands’ products and become real influencers.

A chance for luxury

Of course, tech products are still popular, but we are seeing more and more luxury brands represented. In 2020. Over 200 brands took part in the event via the Luxury PavilionAlibaba’s platform dedicated to luxury. French, Italian, English and American brands such as Balenciaga, Cartier, Kenzo, Prada, Rimowa, Vacheron Constantin, Piaget, Burberry, Coach and Michael Kors, to name just a few, have therefore had the opportunity to seduce adolescent Chinese consumers. who are now aware 30% of your luxury purchases online.

This year, American homes would take the lion’s share with 5.4 billion turnover with two available luxury brands Coach and Michael Kors having crossed the $100 million sales mark on Alibaba and JD.com.

According to the latest BCG and Tencent Digital Luxury Report 2020, the Chinese luxury goods market is the one that has recovered the fastest and has the greatest growth potential thanks to expected growth of 20 to 30% in the globally affected luxury market. Major players such as Kering, LVMH and Richemont could therefore not ignore their presence.

This edition also saw a 150% enhance in sales, and Singles Day is likely to be another event not to be missed. Indeed, it would seem that Singles Day is on the verge of dethroning Black Friday, attracting more and more brands from all countries and all sectors, including luxury.

A unique “Black Friday” 2020

According totest Thanksgiving Weekend Shopping in the US (Statista) 57% of Americans indicate that in the face of the health crisis, they do not want to go to the store for safety reasons. Online stores that have extended the promotion period should therefore see an enhance in sales at the end of the year. According to Statista, the enhance in 2020 will be about 35%.

But taking into account Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Diminutive Business Saturday and Cyber ​​Monday, online sales are expected to reach $34 billion this year, half what Alibaba made during Singles Day in China.

The health context should be even more significant in Europe, where “Black Friday” occurred a few years ago. If the data for 2019 showed that: new madness for this type of activity, especially in the UK, trends for 2020 seem less sanguine.

According to the latest estimates from Statista, major European countries have either cancelled their initial plans (around 30% of distributors in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain or France) or have restricted their campaigns for 2020.

In France, at the request of the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire, The Trade Federation has agreed to postpone the 2020 edition to December 4, 2020 hoping that the proximity of Christmas will encourage customers to make purchases.

Even if, during these commercial operations, a vast part of the purchases are made online, customers can return to the store. Time will tell if the French will mobilize for health safety and responsible consumption. Indeed, in 2019, 43% of the French voted to eliminate “Black Friday”, concerned about environmental issues.

So can the differences between Black Friday and Singles Day be explained by specific shopping behaviors between the United States, Europe, and China? In the first two cases, it seems that customers are looking for good deals in a tough economic and health context. In the second, the appetite of Chinese consumers suggests that shopping is becoming a real pastime.

IN Covid-19 and Mental Suffering: 2020, the Odyssey of Lockdown by psychiatrist Nicolas Franck, the author points out that stress can, depending on the individual, promote more or less stern mental disorders and lead to certain types of behavior or consumption. He therefore mentions what the loss of freedom can lead to inability to restrain behaviorfor example repeat purchases.

Do we not also see a psychological dimension in the purchasing behavior that has followed periods of isolation? While the pandemic continues to hit in the United States and Europe, and lockdowns remain more or less strict, China has emerged from this phase, and its inhabitants are perhaps somewhere celebrating a return to normal life, or, in compact, to life.

As Shirley Li, a professor from Hong Kong, said in a recent interview with the BBC, “When the fear of death disappears, the Chinese want live in the moment and start shopping again “This is yet another reason why international brands are turning even more to China.