Kirsty Mckenzie
THE biggest sale of the year is here – but it’s not Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
We’re talking about the annual Singles’ Day sales on 11 November.
Today’s major shopping event was initially created in China in 1993 as an antidote to Valentine’s Day and a commercial celebration of singletons.
Originally unattached students at Nanjing University in China celebrated their solo status by buying themselves gifts – a date written as 11.11, or one-one-one-one.
Retail giant Alibaba – China’s answer to Amazon and one of the biggest retailers in the world – then adopted the event and turned it into a massive annual shopping event.
Now Single’s Day sales can be spotted all over the globe, with international brands adopting the event and rolling out discounts for shoppers regardless of their single status.
More and more brands and countries and joining in the commercial celebrations each year,
In 2009 Chinese retail giant Alibaba – a major rival to Amazon and one of the biggest retailers in the world – then adopted the event and turned it into a massive annual shopping event.
More recently Singles Day has gotten global attention, with international brands adopting the event and rolling out discounts for shoppers all over the world. And this year is no different.
In some cases you can buy the same brands you’re used to seeing in the UK, while others will be brands you’ve never heard of but are big business in other countries.
There are a number of websites set up solely to sell Chinese products to the UK and other markets. The biggest one is AliExpress.com, an off-shoot of Alibaba.
This year AliExpress will join MediaMarkt, Ebay, Worten, GearBest, Shein and Yesstyle in offering cost-cutting deals.
While cosmetics and perfumery stores, such as ‘ Sephora’ or ‘Douglas’, also offer significant discounts during this Singles Day.
You need to take delivery costs into account too.
Delivery is free on many goods from AliExpress but goods can take up to 40 days to arrive – so if you fancy doing your Christmas shopping in China you need to crack on now.
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