China 'Singles Day' spending gives Black Friday a run for its money!

The November 11th pseudo-holiday, adopted in 2009 by Jack Ma, founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba and is reported to be surpassing Black Friday spending. 

According to Bloomberg figures, online purchases for Black Friday and Cyber Monday totaled $1.28 billion in the United States in 2013, whereas Singles Day raked in $9 billion in sales this year.

While discounts and convenience went down well with Chinese shoppers, some 278 million orders logged on the day left some consumers waiting for more than a week to receive their purchases despite round-the-clock deliveries.

Black Friday now popular in Europe too​

According to market analyst Verdict, 47% of UK shoppers said they intended to buy Black Friday promotional products this year, with women leading the charge.

The market researcher predicts 61% of female consumers will make a purchase and that the popular shopping day will become a permanent fixture in the UK retail calendar, as consumer expectation and demand continues to grow.

“With many shoppers still not prepared to pay full price, resulting in high levels of shopping around, providing unbeatable discounts and unique offers will prove crucial on Black Friday 2014 to seize consumer spending,”​ says Verdict analyst Kate Ormrod.

The online survey included 10,000 UK consumers, the results of which found 25% of shoppers to make their Christmas purchases earlier this year compared with 2013.

The survey predicts that shoppers will hand over an extra £2.3bn this year, compared to last year – a rise of 2.6%, reaching £90.7bn.

“While many consumers have previously held out for deeper discounts in the run up to Christmas, this year they are more confident than ever that discounts will come through earlier, such as those on Black Friday, resulting in spend being brought forward​,” Ormrod adds.