Black Friday Is Nothing Compared to Chinese E-Commerce Giant Alibaba's Singles' Day

Singles' Day, an entire 24-hours of festivities and fanfare put on by the mega-retailer Alibaba, owner of Aliexpress.com, took place this year in Shanghai, China and raked in $31 billion in sales. According to CNBC, this year’s festivities kicked off with a concert by none other than Taylor Swift. The equivalent to $13 billion USD was spent in the first hour alone. AliExpress, a Chinese B2C e-commerce site and Amazon’s largest competitor, is known for its impossibly huge catalog, dirt-cheap goods and the massive shopping extravaganza known as Singles' Day. Singles' Day originated in China in the ‘90s as a way to celebrate being single, but quickly transformed into the largest shopping day of the year.

While regular brick-and-mortar stores also take part in Singles' Day sales, the Alibaba event is the highest-grossing by a landslide, and features a star-studded livecast to accompany its sale featuring more than 200,000 participating brands. While Cyber Monday has eclipsed Black Friday for many consumers in the U.S., both events pale in comparison to the revenue-generating power of Singles' Day. 

Globally, the e-commerce industry—which thrives on the convenience of online shopping and home delivery—continues to boom as traditional retail stores falter, but this trend isn’t limited strictly to retail concepts. Franchises like Pizza Hut have temporarily closed hundreds of underperforming stores in an attempt to reopen new “express” models that cater to consumers who aren’t looking for a dine-in experience. 

More and more people in the franchising industry are searching for concepts that are “Amazon-proof”, or resilient in spite of the global consumer trend to buy online, but maybe the solution is to swim with the current than against it. Ghost Kitchens, delivery options, and in-app ordering are all ways to appeal to the convenience-driven consumer—while keeping their dollars with your franchise concept.