Today Is
‘Single’s Day,’ China’s Massive Shopping Holiday
Wed,
Nov. 11, 2015
By
Victor Luckerson
While
U.S. shoppers are gearing up for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Chinese
consumers are opening up their wallets in a big way on Wednesday.
Nov.
11 will mark the 7th annual Singles Day, a shopping celebration organized by
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. The e-tailer began celebrating the day, a
“folk holiday” on which China’s many single peoplebuy gifts for themselves, in
2009 with just 27 merchants. Since then, the event has grown into a
multibillion-dollar enterprise. This year, it will include 40,000 merchants
offering discounts on millions of products.
Singles
Day sales have grown from around $100 million in 2009 to $9.3 billion in 2014,
according to research firm IDC. For comparison, Cyber Monday in the U.S.
generated $2 billion in sales last year.
Analysts
are predicting that Alibaba will again smash records come Wednesday. IDC
projects $13.7 billion worth of sales for Singles’ Day. The company processed a
record $9 billion in sales by midday Wednesday local time, Bloomberg reports.
In
order to increase the spectacle of the day this year, Alibaba is moving its
results ceremony, where it calculates how many sales were generated, from its
headquarters in Hangzhou to Beijing, the nation’s capital. Boosting its Beijing
presence could help Alibaba compete with JD.com, a rival online retailer based
in the city.
This
year’s Singles Day comes at a critical juncture for the company. After
launching the biggest-ever public offering ever last fall, Alibaba’s stock has
struggled this year amidst slowing revenue growth and increased competition
from its domestic rivals. Shares dipped below $60 in September, below the
company’s $68 IPO price and far off from a peak above $115 last November. The
company’s stock was trading around $80 just before Singles Day.
Structure of
the Lead:
Who-not given
When-Nov.
11, 2015
What-Singles Day, a shopping celebration organized by Chinese
e-commerce giant Alibaba
Why-
a “folk
holiday” on which China’s many single people buy gifts for themselves, in 2009
with just 27 merchants.
Where-around the world
How- the event has grown into a multibillion-dollar
enterprise.
Keywords:
1.
gear
up:做好準備
2.
merchant:商人
3.
multibillion:數十億
4.
generate:產生
5.
analyst:分析家
6.
smash:打破
7.
spectacle:奇觀
8.
headquarter:總部
9.
retailer:零售商
10.
critical:關鍵的
11.
juncture:時刻；契機
12.
amidst:在…其中
13.
revenue:收入
14.
domestic:國內的
15.
peak:高峰
16.
trade:交易
China's Single Day is really an amazing day. All of Chinese people are going to buy a lot of things. It is really a day that can improve their economy. What's more, the discounts also can attract others in different countries.
回覆刪除I had heard that China's Single Day before, but I don't know it will generate such numerous commercial opportunity. It really an incredible, everything we saw was cheap prices ever. I think Alibaba grasps consumers' attention really well.
回覆刪除