After Black Friday is already a good bang for businesses, Singles' Day is a new goldmine. The day has already surpassed Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving where shops stunt prices, in terms of sales. The Chinese holiday is celebrated annually on 11 November, the 11th of the 11th, and expectations for this year are again sky-high.
Singles Day 'celebration'
Singles' Day, called Guanggun Jie in Chinese, is an event where, mainly Chinese, singles organise parties and sing karaoke. Since Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba bombed it as an event where consumers can hunt for the best bargains online, sales have been shooting through the roof. Alibaba's bosses are already rubbing their hands, but the many purchases are also causing logistical headaches, as all these packages obviously need to be delivered properly and quickly.
Large numbers
It is estimated that hundreds of millions of parcels need to be delivered and this raises issues that extend far beyond China. As non-Chinese consumers have been able to take advantage of Singles Day bargains since 2014, companies are already working hard to get their inventories in order so they can deliver orders quickly. The key to success is predicting and analysing consumers' wants so that they can quickly anticipate demand. Alibaba is also leading the way when it comes to analysing big data for this reason.
Consumers have to be patient
The high volume of orders means that delivery times are extended by several days. Whereas usually two to three days waiting for your package is common, bargain hunters now have to reckon with four to five days. Despite Alibaba's upfront measures, it is dependent on others because it has limited infrastructure of its own and thus has to cooperate efficiently to keep all the bachelors happy.
Editorial LogistiekProfs
