From shampoo to boats and North Pole tickets: how China’s online shopping frenzy evolved
Singles’ Day has grown into a retail phenomenon that has spread well beyond China’s 1.3 billion population to snare shoppers from Southeast Asia to the US
Savvy Chinese consumers, as well as the newbies are counting down to the annual shopping binge known as Singles’ Day, known for bargains on everything from shampoo to 37-foot Aston Martin AM37 powerboats.
Well before the doors to China’s virtual shopping centre open at the stroke of midnight Saturday, consumers like New York college student Yu Yifan, 23, have spent days, if not weeks, doing their homework.
For Yu, her biggest concern is having fast and steady internet access, because the rush of orders in the first few minutes of the shopping spree has overwhelmed telecommunications networks and computer servers in the past. The most popular items sell out within seconds.
“There are certainly good deals during Singles’ Day, but it’s hard to get those kinds of deals as they are sold out in minutes,’’ said Yu, who has spent as much as 20,000 yuan (US$3,000) on previous Singles’ Days, buying clothes, home appliances and electronic goods for the family.
Shanghai resident Celine Lin, 38, plans to spend several tens of thousands of yuan on skincare and small electronic goods this year after picking up good deals on a previous Singles’ Day sale when she was renovating her flat. “I saved quite a bit on renovation by buying on Singles’ Day, although I didn’t pay attention to how much,” she said.
