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<\/p>\nEVERY year millions of people around the\u00a0world\u00a0celebrate\u00a0Singles Day.<\/p>\n
What started as an anti-Valentine\u2019s Day celebration has gone on to become the largest shopping day in the world.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Contrary to popular misconceptions, Singles Awareness Day is not about self-pity but rather a chance to announce to the world that you are single and happy to be so.<\/p>\n
Since it started in 2009, Singles' Day has become almost four times larger than Cyber Monday, the biggest shopping day in the US calendar.<\/p>\n
Now promoted by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba,\u00a0the event is held annually on November 11 and has also smashed sales records for Black Friday.<\/p>\n
More than twice as many goods are sold over the 24 hours than during the five-day US holiday buying spree that ends on Cyber Monday, November 29.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n In 2019, Chinese online shopping giant Alibaba raked in an incredible 268.4 billion yuan (around \u00a330 billion.<\/p>\n Singles' Day is said to have been started by bachelor students in the 1990s, the idea being to buy themselves presents to celebrate being single.<\/p>\n The date 11\/11 – also written 11:11- was picked because the digits represent a collection of lonely ones, or "bare branches", the Chinese expression for the unattached.<\/p>\n The event was initially an "anti-Valentine's Day" celebration on university campuses and\u00a0to celebrate single people in China.<\/p>\n Now the day has become a shopping frenzy.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Alibaba even flies celebrities to Shanghai to perform at a televised gala to mark the start of Singles' Day.<\/p>\n Past guests have included David and Victoria Beckham, Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman.<\/p>\n As Alibaba's billionaire co-founder Jack Ma started building the company, he latched on to the idea of revolving a shopping event around a holiday.<\/p>\n Early on, the company's marketing encouraged customers to treat themselves in celebration of being single – but the day targets those who are in relationships, too.<\/p>\n Although Alibaba – the Chinese equivalent of Amazon – was the first to link Singles' Day to consumerism, other companies also jumped on the bandwagon, with JD.com Inc, Vipshop Holdings Ltd and Amazon.com Inc also offering promotions.<\/p>\n In 2019, 140,000 brands took part in the shopping festival – more than 40 per cent more participants than the previous year.<\/p>\n Retailers care about Singles' Day because \u201cif you win China, you win the world\u201d.<\/p>\n The 11.11 retail affair has become big business.<\/p>\n Chinese retailers raked in $17.8bn (\u00a314.2bn) in 24 hours in 2016, triple the $5.9bn (\u00a34.5billion) spent on Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Thanksgiving combined in the US.<\/p>\n For retailers, 11.11 is the ideal opportunity to muscle in on the Chinese market.<\/p>\n A number of British brands, including Whittard of Chelsea, Marks & Spencer, Asos and Waitrose, already have marketplaces on Alibaba's Tmall site.<\/p>\n While it is still in the early stages of popularity in the United Kingdom, some online stores take part in the occasion.<\/p>\n ASOS is an example here, in 2021 ASOS slashed 20% off everything on Singles' Day, including sale items, for 24 hours.<\/p>\n They often only announce their sale the night before on socials.<\/p>\n If you're single you don't have to go that far and celebrate it.<\/p>\n But you do deserve a gift and who better than you to know the perfect present to give yourself?<\/p>\n So go ahead and take advantage of Singles Day. You know you deserve it.<\/p>\n After all, there is no one right way to celebrate this modern tradition.<\/p>\n There are many ways you can celebrate this day.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re interested in shopping, then check out the shops as most of them usually have great online deals.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re single, meet up with friends that you know are single and have a dinner party.<\/p>\n You could even join a dating website and meet up with some new potential partners.<\/p>\n When the time comes, use the hashtag #SinglesDay to spread the word about how popular this holiday is on your social media.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/dk-comp-fab-mag-02oct.jpg\")
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Why is it called Singles' Day?<\/h2>\n
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