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How Alibaba Turned November 11 Into the World's Biggest Online Shopping Day

Posted by samzenpus on from the buy-something dept.

hackingbear writes Bummed that you're home alone on date night, or stuck in your mom's basement, yet again? Don't worry. A new gadget or some scuba gear could help. Observed on November 11 — or "11.11," for the date with the most 1s — Singles Day, which started out as a joke among a group of male college students attending Nanjing University in the 1990s, has become the world's biggest online shopping day, thanks to the e-commerce prowess of China's Alibaba Group. On this day last year, they sold twice what all US companies sold on Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. This year, Alibaba has decided to take its 11.11 promotions worldwide, highlighting global brands including online jewelry store Blue Nile, clothing brand Juicy Couture, and even Costco. Amazon has tried to get a piece of the action. The Seattle-based company launched promotions for the holiday last year on its Chinese site, and it's done so again this year.

19 of 115 comments (clear)

  1. Good luck in Canada by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Obviously just about any date you can pick is probably going to have some importance _somewhere_ in the world. This time it just happens to be Canada.

    November 11'th is Remembrance Day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day) here in Canada, and unlike many of our holidays, this is actually one that most Canadians do take seriously.

    1. Re:Good luck in Canada by camperdave · · Score: 3, Insightful

      In every war, at least one side was wrong.

      War doesn't decide who is right. It only decides who is left.

      In Canada, Remembrance Day is a solemn day, full of reflection and recognition of the price Canada has paid for peace. It's definitely not a pompous flag waving day because Canada doesn't go to war to crush her enemies. Canada doesn't start wars. It ends them. We have committed more troops to UN peacekeeping efforts than any other country. As such, I think when Canadians do consider the deaths of enemy soldiers it is with sympathy rather than with Schadenfreude.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  2. Am I the only one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Who really, REALLY doesn't give a shit?

    1. Re:Am I the only one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Alibaba is no more sketchy than ebay. They are just a front for sellers, and if you have any problem you can block payment.

      Point is, Ali is HUGE. Bigger than Amazon and Ebay combined. They are the 500 pound gorilla of online retail. They have the size and the direct-to-producer network to steamroll Amazon. Ebay doesn't have a chance either: half the ebay stores are just import fronts for producers that you can buy directly from on Ali.

    2. Re:Am I the only one by stephanruby · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Alibaba seems extra sketchy. I get that a lot of people will go to great lengths to save a buck, but I'm probably one of the few that prefers dealing with somewhat reputable companies (a few do still exist).

      Alibaba is mostly for business to business sourcing. Personally, I don't know any other reputable place where I can source custom electronics equipment from China.

      Amazon doesn't do that. Ebay doesn't that. And I guess I could go on a Chinese manufacturer's web site to get something done, but without Alibaba, I have no idea where I could get started and how reliable a supplier is going to be. Alibaba has just grown to be the default place where people go for that kind of thing. It's definitely not for everybody.

    3. Re:Am I the only one by intermelt · · Score: 5, Informative

      No one is referring to alibaba.com when they speak of Alibaba. They are referring to the Alibaba Group which includes aliexpress.com and at least 5 other websites which are consumer based (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alibaba_Group#Companies_and_affiliated_entities). They are even the PayPal or maybe Authorize.net of China with AliPay.

      so... alibaba.com - not consumer based
      AliExpress.com - Consumer based, like Amazon or eBay
      Taobao - Consumer bases, like Amazon or eBay
      Tmall.com - Consumer based, Amazon like
      Juhuasuan - Consumer based - like any daily deal site, think dx.com
      eTao - consumer based comparison shopping, think Google shopping
      Alipay - consumer/retailer based, AKA PayPal
      Alibaba Cloud Computing - smells like Amazon
      China Yahoo! - ya, they pretty much own Yahoo, and again consumer based
      Aliwang - messaging app? consumer based.
      ChinaVision Media Group - TV? consumer based
      Youku Tudou - seems to be a Netflix, consumer based
      11 Main - online mall, consumer based
      Alibaba Group R&D institute - smells like Google, end user, consumer.

      Seems pretty consumer based to me.

  3. Que es "Date Night" by russotto · · Score: 4, Funny

    What is this "date night"? Does not every night have a date?

    1. Re:Que es "Date Night" by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not if you have kids... time loses meaning, each day mostly an olympic dash to microobjectives and periodic unconsciousness. Some people choose to fight the inevitable, by estbalishing a date night, sort of like a repository tag, to put a stake in the in shifting sea of time. On this date, the children are given to a baby sitter of dubious repute (sometimes chosen intentionally so) and the adults are set loose on the world.

      On this night there is a date. There is no date on the quicksand of parenthood, but this is a date.

  4. November 11th? Really? by Rob+Bos · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm a little offended that they chose Remembrance Day for their shopping extravaganza.

    1. Re:November 11th? Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Alibaba is a Chinese group. China is not a part of the Commonwealth.

      In China, 11/11 is Singles' Day, not Remembrance Day.

    2. Re:November 11th? Really? by tgeller · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Every date on the calendar is sacred to some group. It's impossible to choose a date that wouldn't conflict with anything.

      Also, they apparently didn't choose it: It was a continuation of an earlier tradition. So blame those students.

      --
      Tom Geller
    3. Re:November 11th? Really? by _merlin · · Score: 3, Informative

      I dunno, David Jones has scheduled the launch of their Christmas sales for 11/11 this year. Go to any of their bigger stores tomorrow after 5PM for free champagne and snacks while you celebrate consumerism. No-one's protesting.

  5. It is a lot more than just Canada by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 5, Informative

    While the 11th Novemeber is remembrance day here in Canada you might want to remember that since it is to commemorate the end of the First World War it is also an important date for the entire Commonwealth and even the US has Veteran's Day. So, as days go, for a large number of countries this is actually a really bad one to select to celebrate rampant consumerism.

    1. Re:It is a lot more than just Canada by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 5, Interesting

      this is actually a really bad one to select to celebrate rampant consumerism.

      Unlike the yearly observance of the notional birth of the messiah, or the day after a day intended to be used to express gratitude for the sacrifice of the pilgrims, or hte day that bunnies lay chocolate eggs and you actually eat them...

      Really I'm not sure I know of a holiday that we haven't turned in to some sort of circus. Even memorial day is mostly about cooking meat on a grill, and the families of the people being honored are still around.

      Let's just ignore it because it's China and Alibaba and not look for some excuse.

    2. Re:It is a lot more than just Canada by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Even memorial day is mostly about cooking meat on a grill

      Are not holidays, by there very definition, cause for celebration? What better way to celebrate than cooking dead animal on a fire?

      --

      "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
    3. Re:It is a lot more than just Canada by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think, particularly given the basis of memorial day, that the analogy is especially terrible.

    4. Re:It is a lot more than just Canada by fnj · · Score: 3, Interesting

      While the 11th Novemeber is remembrance day here in Canada you might want to remember that since it is to commemorate the end of the First World War it is also an important date for the entire Commonwealth [wikipedia.org] and even the US has Veteran's Day [wikipedia.org].

      November 11 is (WW1) Armistice Day, that's what it is. The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. All this crap about changing the name and pretending that it is for honoring the sacrifice of all veterans of all wars is just that, crap. If, that is, you actually care about history.

      Not that I don't grasp the point. You can't go marking the end of every war as a holiday. Before you know it, every day would be a holiday. And a lot of them were not won. It would be a painful reminder of all the sacrifices that were in vain.

      But those people who make it their business to know history can honor veterans every day instead of pouring it all out on a single symbolic day and quickly getting back to "real life".

    5. Re:It is a lot more than just Canada by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      St.Nicolas is indeed a religious character but he replaces Wodan/Odin from the pagan Holliday. Santa Clause has very similar attributes as well.

      Wodan/Odin:
      - Wise old man
      - Has two ravens who spy on people and whisper in his ear
      - He keeps a naughty and nice list
      - has a flying horse with 8 legs
      - Gives runes (letters) to the people as gift on his birthday
      - Shows a likeness to women of their next lover.

      St. Nicolas/Sinterklaas (how it is celebrated in the Netherlands)
      - Wise old man
      - Has two black helpers (After the WW2 the number of helpers increased for a larger celebration), they still have feathers in their cap.
      - He keeps a naughty and nice list.
      - He has a white horse with 4 legs that can walk on roofs.
      - Given chocolate letters, and some hard candy with letters on them
      - There are also cookies with the likeness of a man on it.

      Santa Clause
      - Wise old man
      - Has helpers in the form of elves.
      - He keeps a naughty and nice list.
      - He has a sleight which is pulled by flying raindeer.

  6. AliBaba's online outlet is called AliExpress. by jdagius · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.aliexpress.com/cate...

    I've found it to be very friendly, with free shipping to the States on almost every purchase. Downside is that the free shipping goes through Singapore Post and takes a month or two to arrive here.

    But the prices are really cheap, and customer support surprisingly good. Amazon had better watch out!