Singles’ Day 2019 broke records, with Alibaba recording $38.4 billion in GMV, a 26% rise over the 2018 event at constant exchange rates. The shopping festival officially kicked off at 12:00am on November 11, and Alibaba’s GMV reached $12 billion within the first hour and topped last year’s $30.8 billion within 16 hours 30 minutes. Although Singles’ Day originated as an online-only holiday in China—which remains the epicenter of the festival—its presence is expanding beyond Asia into Western countries and is increasingly being adopted in physical retail. Coresight Research visited physical stores and e-commerce websites to gauge the adoption of Singles’ Day by retailers globally and to gather examples of 11.11 deals. Interestingly, not every brand or retailer launched Singles’ Day deals at 12:00am; some only introduced promotions in the afternoon. The Singles’ Day shopping festival in China is about finding the best deal for consumers. Since more than 30% of GMV on Alibaba’s platform that day was generated within the first hour, it is clear that merchants should take advantage of consumers’ fear of missing out by offering attractive deals from the festival’s launch, sometimes in limited quantities first to drive traffic and lead the competition early. Some global brands promoted different localized offers and special packages in different regions. Even Amazon joined in, providing promotions in select regions. We also observed companies across various industries participating in this holiday festival, such as travel and banking. This gives retailers the opportunity to partner with other sectors to create more appealing sales campaigns. US This year in the US, online sales on Singles’ Day increased 38% year over year to $2.7 billion, according to Adobe Analytics. Although many brands and retailers had already started their holiday sales, for those haven’t, many jumped on the bandwagon, offering a one-day flash sale. This gives them the opportunity to attract consumers before the upcoming holiday season and adjust pricing and logistics for inventory optimization. In addition, many brands and retailers partnered with shopping guide websites to offer exclusive promotions for Singles’ Day. Ebates and RetailMeNot, shopping rewards and coupon companies, offered 11% cash back for consumers that made purchases through selected merchants. Despite being a record-breaking achievement, $2.7 billion was equivalent to only 7% of Alibaba’s GMV. This year, the company rolled out a series of strategies to boost sales before November 11, with a strong emphasis on livestreaming on cellphones. This is a popular retail channel in China, where brands can use the influence of key opinion leaders to boost sales. For example, Kim Kardashian did a livestream to promote her fragrance brand KKW—which was available for sale on Alibaba’s Tmall e-commerce platform—on November 6. Brands and retailers in the US could look to adopt this strategy and enhance their mobile technology offerings in order to drive sales for the holiday season. As shown below, we saw the brands Ceramiracle, Coach, Estée Lauder, Nike and The Body Shop participate in Singles’ Day in the US. [caption id="attachment_99597" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Ceramiracle [/caption]     [caption id="attachment_99598" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Coach [/caption]     [caption id="attachment_99599" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Estée Lauder [/caption]     [caption id="attachment_99600" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Nike [/caption]     [caption id="attachment_99601" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: The Body Shop [/caption]   Europe The Coresight Research team witnessed a number of participants in Singles’ Day this year across Europe. As with last year, participation was led by online-only retailers. In the UK, Amazon hosted a “Hidden Gems” sale from November 8 to 12. Interestingly, we also saw apparel retailer ASOS offering deals later in the day, without any prior indication of Singles’ Day on its website. Fashion retailer Boohoo offered 20% discounts on all products during Singles’ Day 2018, and it increased the discount to 25% this year. French general-merchandise website Cdiscount also took advantage of the event. Around one in six retailers in France participated in Singles’ Day this year, according to French market research firm Madame Benchmark. In the Netherlands, Bol.com, owned by Ahold Delhaize, also participated. [caption id="attachment_99602" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Amazon [/caption]     [caption id="attachment_99603" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: ASOS [/caption]     [caption id="attachment_99604" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Boohoo [/caption]   [caption id="attachment_99605" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Cdiscount [/caption]     Hong Kong In addition to the participation of retailers in Singles’ Day 2019, travel agencies in Hong Kong used the shopping holiday to offer online promotions. [caption id="attachment_99606" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Estée Lauder [/caption]     [caption id="attachment_99607" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Gap [/caption]   [caption id="attachment_99608" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: HKTV Mall [/caption]     [caption id="attachment_99609" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Hong Tai Travel [/caption]     [caption id="attachment_99610" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Wing On Travel [/caption]     [caption id="attachment_99611" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: YOHO [/caption]     [caption id="attachment_99612" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Zalora [/caption]     India Multiple e-commerce platforms of companies based in India participated in the Singles’ Day shopping festival this year, including Flipkart’s website Myntra. [caption id="attachment_99613" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Myntra [/caption]     [caption id="attachment_99614" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Nykaa [/caption]     Other Asian E-commerce Platforms E-commerce platforms based in other Asian regions, such as Singapore and Malaysia, jumped on the bandwagon too, launching special promotions for Singles’ Day. [caption id="attachment_99615" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: HipVan [/caption]     [caption id="attachment_99616" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Lazada [/caption]     [caption id="attachment_99617" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Shopee[/caption]     UAE Companies in various industries celebrated Singles’ Day this year. In addition to e-commerce giant Amazon, banks and travel agencies offered special promotions in the UAE. [caption id="attachment_99618" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Amazon [/caption]   [caption id="attachment_99619" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Rakbank [/caption]     [caption id="attachment_99620" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Tajawal [/caption]