Why You Should Start Your Holiday Shopping Today
Black Friday may be the traditional start to the holiday shopping season, but sales start earlier each year. This is not because of the “Christmas fit” (you know, that awful tradition of shops starting to lay out their Christmas inventory around Labor Day). This is because of Singles Day, the biggest holiday you’ve probably never heard of.
Singles Day debuted in China 11 years ago and was hosted by e-commerce giant Alibaba. The company chose November 11, a date often associated with loneliness with a number of singles (11/11), as a celebration against Valentine’s Day. What do you buy when you’re single? Fill yourself up! (But only on the Internet. There is no Singles Day in regular stores.)
It just so happens that it coincides with Veterans Day here in the US, which, frankly, is an inconvenient holiday at best for holding sales on merchandise like mattresses and cars. Singles Day is hugely significant in Asia: after Alibaba unveiled the event, other e-commerce retailers joined in and expanded to many other countries. Last year, Mariah Carey performed at Alibaba’s annual Singles Day Gala, which was broadcast live; this year it will be Taylor Swift.
The holiday of shopping is just starting to gain traction here in the US, but it’s big enough to have a solid sale on November 11th. If you’ve already put together a shopping list for the holidays, you should check it out. your favorite retailers to see if they offer online sales.
Don’t you believe that it matters a lot? Last year, Alibaba generated more sales in the first 10 minutes of Singles Day than Amazon in the entire Prime Day event. And on Singles Day, more than twice as many merchandise is sold than in a five-day period that includes Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
So who’s got a Singles Day sale in the US? Probably everywhere you shop online. Today Levi’s is promoting $ 29.99 hoodies and $ 14.99 T-shirts online. Nike is offering 20% off select styles with code SINGLES at checkout. Japanese brand Uniqlo offers a range of one-day deals alongside multiple merchandise for $ 11.11. Rakuten, a discount site formerly known as eBates, will offer 11% cashback on purchases at a variety of stores .
Sure, this ploy offers 11% off merchandise, but you may find retailers are offering deeper discounts on this one-day sale to start increasing their important sales in the fourth quarter. And if they don’t have a Singles Day sale, chances are good that your favorite store will have either a holiday pre-sale or a Veterans Day sale, so this is a win-win.
Have you ever shopped on Singles Day? Are you trying it today for the first time? Share in the comments where you found the best deals.