Where Singles' Day Is Making Inroads

As soon as November rolls around, they are seemingly everywhere: shopping holidays. China's Singles' Day (Nov. 11) as well as the U.S.' Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become ubiquitous internationally. At the same time, they have started to stretch into days and weeks of discounts, named Black Week, Cyber Week, Christmas Week and Black Shopping (Germany), Jour XXL (France) and, less positively, Black Fraude (Brazil).

The knowledge of shoppers around the world of the different shopping holidays differs, however. Singles' Day remains the least well known in a sample of seven countries where Boston Consulting Group carried out a survey. Continental European countries have caught on more to the hype so far, with 56 percent of Poles and 41 percent of Germans saying they knew Singles' Day at least a little. Brits were the most familiar with American shopping occasions Black Friday and Cyber Monday. In Australia, fewer people had familiarity with the shopping holidays in question.