The world’s largest annual shopping event kicked off today in China.
Called the Singles Day Shopping Festival, it was first launched by Alibaba on November 11, 2009. The festival is tagged China’s informal and anti-Valentine’s Day holiday to celebrate people who are not in relationships.
The event which is also known as Double 11 was deliberately fixed for November 11 so that it is written and pronounced as 11.11.
Since its launch, the event has evolved into a huge shopping activity not just for Alibaba but also other e-commerce companies that offer their own steep promotions and discounts that take place over several days or even weeks.
The event has overtime, spread outside China, with Alibaba’s Southeast Asia subsidiary Lazada offering deals in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Last year, Alibaba made roughly $75 billion in total sales.
