Updated: February 21, 2021
The world is now more connected than ever, thanks to the Internet. With e-commerce becoming more and more familiar to consumers, business retailers are no longer limited by their geographic location — anyone can now sell anything to anybody in the world.
And of all the months in a year, November is perhaps the busiest and most profitable months for cyberpreneurs and online businesses.
Today, we’ve partnered with eToro to bring you some amazing facts about the world’s biggest shopping month. Particularly, we’ll look into Singles’ Day and Black Friday.
A little bit of history
Singles’ Day originated in 1993 at China’s Nanjing University. Students wanted to break away from the monotony of being single and thus created the occasion. In 2009, Alibaba turned November 11 or 11.11 into an online-shopping festival that has grown bigger and bigger each year.
Meanwhile, Black Friday refers to the day after Thanksgiving Day in the United States, which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. Since 1952, that day has been regarded as the beginning of America’s Christmas shopping season.
The term, Black Friday didn’t become widely used until around the 1970s. It references the accounting phrase “in the black,” which meant profitable sales numbers.
Today, Black Friday is also often used to refer to the shopping weekend following Thanksgiving that ends on Cyber Monday, the celebrated day for online shopping in America.
Singles’ Day vs Black Friday
If we are to compare the two events, Singles’ Day has been outselling Black Friday sales in recent years. In fact, more than twice as much merchandise is sold during November 11 than during the U.S. holiday-buying spree.
In 2018, research data from Bloomberg shows Singles’ Day sales climbing up to $24.2 billion. That’s already the gross domestic product of some smaller European nations. And more than double from the $10.2 billion in sales generated during Black Friday that year.
Since 2014, Singles’ Day has been the world’s biggest shopping event. And many are predicting that this year’s 11.11 will again beat Black Friday 2019 figures.
Singles’ Day market share
Amazon may be more popular around the world, but when it comes to Singles’ Day, the Asian market, particular the Chinese shoppers, flock to Alibaba’s Tmall and its main competitor, JD.com.
It’s interesting to realize that Amazon may have 49% of the e-commerce market in the US, but they haven’t made any dent in the Chinese online retail B2C market. Just look at the graph below. (Source)
But rules have become complicated.
While it is still one of the most anticipated e-commerce event for its online promotions, the rules to participate is getting more confusing and complicated, making netizens feel frustrated.
An article in China Daily shares how Tmall, for example, now requires users to play games, make payment deposits, ask for “likes” on social media, and complete other tasks, if they want to receive big discounts on Singles’ Day.
Figuring out the rules is one of the biggest obstacle. And what is probably meant to make 11.11 more “fun and exciting” has become too tedious for a lot of people, resulting to numerous complaints; some have even quit participating.
How will this affect the numbers this year? We’ll find out after a few weeks.
In the meantime, other businesses and companies have decided to also join in on the biggest e-commerce event of the year. Product retailers and online service providers of all sizes have began offering their own Singles’ Day and Black Friday discounts and promos this November.
Can you profit from this event?
The short answer is YES.
If past trends are an indication of what will happen this year, then expect the income reports of Amazon, Alibaba, and JD to reach new record highs. Buying shares of these companies may be a good idea.
You can register and create an account at eToro if you want to trade and invest in these companies, which are all available in their platform.
Alternatively, at eToro, you can also try out and take advantage of their CopyTrading feature, which allows you to profit with professional traders, who will most likely be watching the market and these retail companies this month.
Learn more about CopyTrading here.
Join eToro’s November Promo
The world’s leading multi-asset broker, eToro is currently running a simple and straightforward promo for all new and existing users with a funded account.
All you have to do is register on the promotion page anytime this November, and open 1 new position (either manual or through CopyTrading). And you’re done, that’s all you need to do!
Step 1: Register at the promo page here.
Step 2: Deposit funds into your account. Learn how to fund your account here.
Step 3: Open 1 new position
At the end of the month, eToro will check your fund deposits for the month of November 2019, and then you’ll receive bonus cash on your account, depending on how much your accumulated deposits are.
Trade and invest in US stocks, forex, and other global markets with eToro, the world’s leading social CopyTrading platform.
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