Is the UK getting Single Minded? ParcelHero says Singles Day now outstrips Cyber Monday and looks set to conquer the UK
E-commerce fulfilment experts ParcelHero says Britain is poised to take on Singles Day: the biggest online sales day in the world.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are now major days in the retail calendar. However, the international courier price comparison site ParcelHero say it’s just a couple of months until the biggest online bonanza in the world - and it’s an event most British people have never heard of: Singles Day! Parcel Hero’s David Jinks MILT says: ‘Last year a stunning 278 million items were sold on Singles Day, 11 November, worth $9.3bn. That dwarfs the world’s Cyber Monday sales, which only amounted to 36.8 million sales and were worth a ‘mere’ $2.68bn’.
Explains David: ‘Singles Day comes from China. It originated in Nanjing University where the large number of single males celebrated 11th November because it is all the ones: 11/11. Students continued the tradition once they had left university and it really took off in 2011: 11/11/11! It has become an excuse for an unofficial holiday, going on blind dates, and a huge shopping event in which single people buy themselves a treat’.
David continues: ‘Internet giant Alibaba saw its commercial potential and popularised the day with extensive offers. Its charismatic founder Jack Ma predicted last year: “‘I bet the number of goods sold is going to be scary”. He was right: sales last year totalled $9.3bn through Alibaba's Tmall, Taobao and AliExpress retail sites.’
Asks David: ‘Could the UK also get Singles Day fever in the future? ParcelHero wouldn’t be surprised. Alibaba is moving the event westwards. Tmall particularly has been setting up partnerships with global brands to manage logistics and sales from outside of China and use Tmall as largely a front-end. Consumers should watch the AliExpress site for UK bargains. For any internet retailer looking to source products for their site, significant discounts on Alibaba sites on 11/11 can’t be bad; but there are also sales opportunities. As the day grows in popularity UK buyers will start to seek out Singles Day bargains; and small retailers need to respond to this demand with Singles Day sales on their own sites or online marketplace stores such as eBay.’
Concludes David: ‘The day is ideally timed, by November 11 shoppers are very “Christmas conscious” and already buying presents, and it’s an opportunity for responsive retailers to steal a march on Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales. Retailers large and small should get single minded!’
For more information about e-commerce fulfilment see: www.parcelhero.com/en-gb/courier-services/ebay
For more information please contact David Jinks, Head of PR, on david@parcelhero.com or by phone on 0208 7584962 (07772 055748 out of office hours)
Leading international online courier ParcelHero® strategically partners with the world's leading, logistics companies, including DHL, UPS and DPD to provide a flexible, cost-effective range of parcel delivery services to over 220 countries worldwide. Huge bulk purchasing power allows ParcelHero® to offer highly competitive pricing with no compromise in service quality.
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