This coming Saturday (11 November) will mark the 30th anniversary of Singles’ Day, which was founded at China’s Nanjing University in 1993 as a way for young unmarried students to celebrate themselves, akin to the romantic couples-focused Valentine’s Day. In China, the day is often known as ’11.11’, with the number ‘1’ symbolising single individuals, who on 11 November are encouraged to treat themselves, often through shopping for everyday necessities and high-ticket luxury items alike.
Since having been picked up by Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba in 2009, Singles’ Day has evolved into the world’s biggest shopping festival, with retailers offering attractive discounts for shoppers, who log onto Alibaba’s ecommerce platform Tmall at midnight on 11 November – often by setting alarms in the middle of the night – to take advantage of the deals.
Business management consultancy AlixPartners, which surveyed 2,000 Chinese consumers in the lead up to this year’s Singles’ Day, found that total consumer spend on the day is expected to increase by 18% compared with 11 November 2022 – and more than triple last year’s growth rate. Almost half (46%) of respondents plan to increase spend this year compared to 2022, with only 7% planning to decrease their spending. The majority (62%) is looking to spend at least 3,000 yuan (£335) on the day this year.
One British brand looking to tap into the Singles’ Day opportunity is footwear brand French Sole, founded in 1989 by designer Jane Winkworth. For this weekend (11-12 November), the business will offer consumers 22% off over 50 styles, with an additional 11% off for its email subscribers.
French Sole managing director Myles Bunyard tells Drapers: “French Sole first started taking part in Singles’ Day in 2017 and we have embraced the holiday as a regular part of our marketing plans.
“We have seen performance go from strength to strength in this time, as more retailers adopt the day to focus on discount-led promotions and flash sales. As French Sole has numerous franchises in China and Asia, it was essential for us to participate and we have seen our campaigns perform best in these regions and the US.
“The campaigns have very little impact in our retail stores but ecommerce is the main driver for revenue during our Singles’ Day promotions.”
UK-based off-price etailer BrandAlley is looking to tap into Singles’ Day by offering an additional 20% discount on any products which have a single item left in stock.
BrandAlley executive director Ray Clacher, who had witnessed the impact of Singles’ Day sales on retailers first-hand while working in Hong Kong as brand MD for British menswear brand Gieves & Hawkes between 2009 and 2016, tells Drapers: “As [BrandAlley is] an ecommerce, digital-native business, we are paying homage to the world’s single biggest promotion of the year: Singles’ Day.”
Other offers for UK-based consumers this weekend include a 22% discount on Yoox Net-a-Porter’s outlet arm the Outnet, and up to 50% off selected products on the UK website of global footwear and accessories brand Steve Madden.
However, some UK-based retailers are looking to avoid participating in the holiday. An executive for a British heritage luxury brand with a sizable Chinese consumer base tells Drapers that Singles’ Day “creates more challenges than opportunities” for luxury fashion labels looking to maintain their brands’ high profile by avoiding discounts. For this reason, the business only participates in Singles’ Day through limited sale prices on Tmall and avoids discounting on the day outside of China, including the UK.
An executive for a UK-based luxury streetwear brand, which counts young Chinese consumers as its target demographic, says the business will not be participating in Singles’ Day.
“We are not a discount business nor do we want to create this model. [Singles’ Day] is great for high street brands,” he adds.
The cold sentiment towards Singles’ Day seems to be shared by luxury houses Celine, Gucci and Moncler, which this year have opted to maintain their prices and instead offer interest-free 24-month instalment plans, which remove upfront costs and make products seemingly more affordable, findings shared with Drapers by Chinese ecommerce solutions provider Azoya show.
However, BrandAlley’s Clacher believes there is another significant reason why Singles’ Day is unlikely to catch on in the UK:
“Singles’ Day always falls on what we know in the West [including the UK] as Armistice Day [observed every year since 1919 with a two-minute silence at 11am on 11 November]. In America, they call it Veterans Day.
“For people of a certain age, it would probably be seen not very nice to be commercial on a day of remembrance,” he says.
One UK retail veteran expressed concern of Singles’ Day further diluting full-price sales over the crucial peak trading period, with November already facing heavy discounting on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Despite mixed opinions from UK fashion retail businesses, Singles’ Day dominates as the world’s largest shopping holiday, surpassing Black Friday and Amazon’s Prime Days in sales. Although the holiday is far from dominating the UK high streets and ecommerce platforms, younger generations are less likely to negatively associate the holiday with a lack of respect for Armistice Day – as well as be willing to spread the cost of Christmas. Moreover, with the number of single consumers in England and Wales surpassing married people (28.4m compared with 24.3m, according to latest figures from the Office for National Statistics from the 2020 Census), Singles’ Day has the potential to be warmly received by those looking to celebrate their single status.
