Number of active shoppers on Singles' Day in China 2020, by e-commerce platform

On November 11 of 2020, around 492.79 million people shopped on Alibaba’s C2C e-commerce platform Taobao, while 20.17 million shopped on the B2C platform Tmall. The social e-commerce platform Pinduoduo received approximately 391.93 million active shoppers that day.

Is China’s Singles’ Day comparable to Black Friday?

While U.S. shoppers battle through crowds of eaqually eager bargain hunters on days like Black Friday, many Chinese consumers are content to complete their annual shopping sprees online, having their orders delivered at doors instead. Compared to Black Friday, the Singles’ Day sales in China might be less physical, but undoubtedly, they are similarly intense. According to Alibaba, only 96 seconds after the 2019 Singles’ Day sales started, the total online shopping transaction value on the platform had already surpassed 100 billion yuan.

A day not only for singles

Singles’ Day was an unofficial holiday celebrated by singles in China. The holiday lands on November 11 every year, as 1 represents single. Since Alibaba started its first online shopping festival in 2009, Singles’ Day has become the most-known online shopping festival among Chinese consumers. In 2018, the e-commerce giant Alibaba recorded a GMV of 30.8 billion U.S. dollars on Singles’ Day, nearly triple the total sales value of Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the United States.