Young shoppers were the “backbone” of China’s Singles Day this year.

Young shoppers were the “backbone” of China’s Singles Day this year. Alibaba’s Singles Day is the largest online shopping event in the world, and this year’s 11-day event raked in 540.3 billion yuan, or $85 billion—up from $75.1 billion in 2020. According to Chinese ecommerce giant JD, the number of Gen Z shoppers who purchased clothes on JD’s online marketplace was 3x that of last year, and the gen accounted for more than 50% of total consumers in health-related consumption for fitness, nutrition supplements, image management, and sleep improvement products. While Singles Day isn’t a mainstream shopping holiday in the U.S., some U.S. brands have started participating in the event to engage with young Chinese consumers. Brooklinen’s and Reebok’s online sites featured Singles Day-specific offers while Saks hosted a Singles Day livestream. Wilson Zhao, senior specialist at Gartner, notes that paying attention to Singles Day is a great opportunity to connect with the Chinese community living in the U.S.: “Chinese—especially students—are very familiar with Singles Day and will inevitably see many posts about it on social media…so brands that host Singles Day promotions in the U.S. could actually capture that interest and fill the void.” Dealmoon is making that venture possible as a “social shopping community for Chinese expats around the world” and currently partners with Clinique, Estée Lauder, and Nutribullet. (China Daily, Adweek)