Please see the below article from Invesco about this years ‘Single’s Day’ online shopping event which is taking place today:
Key Takeaways
- Singles Day 2022 – World’s largest online shopping event, outstripping Cyber Monday and Black Friday
- Trends for brands – Keeping consumers engaged and entertained have been a trend for brands participating in the event
- Customer lifetime value – Brands that focus on creating customer lifetime value and cultivating loyalty keep shoppers engaged and entertained
The worlds’ largest online shopping event, Singles Day or Double 11, this year features experiences in the metaverse, livestreaming sessions, while big themes of the festival are sustainability and inclusiveness.
First created in 1993 by four single university students to celebrate being single, the day became a commercial event in China in 2009 and now global sales – mostly online – generate billions and outstrip Cyber Monday and Black Friday. This year more than 290,000 brands from 90 countries are participating in the sale.
What will be the trends for brands this Singles Day?
The shopping extravaganza usually kicks off with a gala celebration the night before. In the past, there’s been no shortage of guest star appearances, including Benedict Cumberbatch showing up via a pre-recorded video last year, previous years have seen performances by Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.
Keeping consumers engaged and entertained have been a trend for brands participating in the event. Consumers can play games to win discounts, while celebrities and influencers entertain them through livestreaming demonstrations of products. Shoppers can have their products delivered to their doorsteps within an hour or even minutes.
Livestreamed shopping has been one of the most successful sales channels. Li Jiaqi, a top Chinese livestreaming host sold US$1.9 billion of goods during China’s Singles Day last year. In a recent livestreaming session in September 2022, Li attracted 150,000 viewers in just the first 10 minutes.
Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) or the total value of merchandise sold over a given period has become for companies an important measure of success for Singles Day. GMV is used to determine the health of an e-commerce site. Since 2009, this figure for the festival has proliferated in China. The first Singles Day sales dating back more than a decade ago generated GMV 50 million yuan, while last year, traditional online retailer platforms totalled GMV of RMB 314.63 bn, while livestreaming platforms recorded RMB 73.76 bn.
How can brands gain new joiners, while maintaining customer loyalty?
Singles Day sales are not just celebrated by customers from tier-1 cities, the largest and wealthiest cities in China. Penetration to lower-tiers cities has also increased in recent years. Last year, non-tier 1 cities shoppers accounted for 77% of all shoppers during the festival.
Despite these impressive figures, it is challenging for brands to increase their market share through Singles Day.
To increase growth, brands are looking at ways to improve the shopping experience, while maintaining customer loyalty.
Various online platforms offer pre-sale events to attract customers’ attention. This year, pre-sale started on 20 Oct 2022. The impact of pre-sale numbers can’t be ignored, last year a top Chinese e-commerce platform experienced a 20-min system breakdown during the event.
Attractive discounts will be offered during the shopping extravaganza. For instance, a large variety of cross-store rebates, such as an extension on returns for purchased products, and compensation for the price difference should customers discover the same product is cheaper on another platform.
In addition, there are heart-warming promotions such as the “one-shoe scheme.” This started last year and enables disabled people to purchase shoes at half the price. University students have also set up online stores to help them gain entrepreneurial experience in Singles Day sales.
E-commerce platforms further created impact via diversification of marketing strategy. Metaverse is another initiative to launch, where consumers can virtually participate in online shopping in the metaverse. Platforms are also using interest-based marketing to individually tailor messages to customers and making entertaining videos that are a bit more personal to the consumer, lifting the excitement of online shopping.
Eco-friendly products are also offered, there are more than 3 million green products on shelves this year. Green logistics is also being promoted in the Singles Day sales, such as offering a self-pickup locker network to reduce carbon footprint, targeting environmentally conscious customers.
Defining the success of Singles Day for e-commerce platforms is not as simple as it used to be. Although there are still discounts and deals for consumers, brands that focus on creating customer lifetime value and cultivating loyalty keep shoppers engaged and entertained.
Maybe todays the day to do some early Christmas shopping online and partake in singles day?
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Andrew Lloyd DipPFS
11th November 2022