Singles’ Day: The Biggest Shipping Day You’ve Never Heard Of

Pop Quiz: What’s the biggest online shopping day of the year? Cyber Monday, right?

Nope. It actually just happened, and you may not have even known. November 11 is Singles’ Day, a relatively new Chinese holiday that celebrates being unmarried. It’s essentially the anti-Valentines Day. November 11 is 11/11, a day full of single digits. (Get it?)

The holiday was created in the early ‘90s on college campuses throughout China, and it was adopted by Alibaba Group, the Chinese equivalent of Amazon.com and eBay, in 2009 as a promotional opportunity.

Alibaba, which many experts are projecting will become the world’s largest online retailer, has turned Singles’ Day into a massive sales holiday. This year they had $9.3 billion in sales — yes, that’s “billion” with a “b” — on Singles’ Day. That’s up from $5.75 billion last year. This surpasses the estimated combined online sales of $3.7 billion last year on Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

This might not mean much to you now, but it probably will soon. The continued growth of online shopping has made international shipping much easier, which has given retailers literally a whole world of new opportunities. The Chinese market is undeniably massive, and global retailers are trying to get in on the Singles’ Day action.

International shipping presents a unique set of challenges, especially when you’re focusing on a specific nation. How can you ensure that your products will endure global travel? Should you customize your packaging for specific languages or cultures?

At Ernest, we’re looking at your packaging from all directions. We can help you adjust your packaging solutions to take advantage of Singles’ Day or any other international opportunities.

As ecommerce continues to explode, your packaging is more important than ever! We build shippers for retailers and manufacturers that not only can help you expand your customer base to every corner of the globe but create the brand experience that excites your customers and gets you repeat orders.

Whatever your relationship status, come say “你好” (that’s Chinese for “hello”) and tell us about your packaging needs.