Happy 11/11, single and single-in-spirit friends! For those who aren’t entirely sure what this holiday is, Singles' Day is a ridiculously popular (and profitable!) shopping day started by Alibaba that absolutely dwarfs the combined sales of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Tricky Tuesday.

The origin of Singles' Day is basically perfect: 4 single dudes in 90s China wanted to add a little spice to their single life (in a fun, non-creepy way), so they decided to celebrate their singledom with fun events instead of being bummed about their impending leftover men status that plagues bachelors world-wide.

The idea quickly caught on, and in 2009 Alibaba started offering Singles' Day discounts. 10 years later, it has turned into easily the biggest shopping day in the world, and last year Alibaba's sales reached 30.8 *billion* USD. In one day. (Just for reference, Amazon sold 142 Billion USD in product sales in all of 2018. No wonder Jeff Bezos is trying a similar strategy with Prime Day...)

Companies world-wide are eager to get in on the action. This year, even Kim Kardashian live-streamed with a Chinese Key Opinion Leader (KOL) to launch her products ahead of the holiday. 

OBVIOUSLY Strictly Cookies had a little fun with it as well- we offered free "single" cookies with purchases around 11/11, and our Taobao* shop had various discounts. But! Interestingly, we weren't allowed to be loosey goosey with our Taobao giveaways; every store actually has to follow certain guidelines in order to participate. For example, we had to offer free delivery on all orders, and 20 RMB discount on orders over 200 RMB. 

Anyhoo, the day isn't even over, and Alibaba has already broken last year's record. But I think the real question on everyone's mind this year is, amidst the trade war, China's economy, and Jack Ma's retirement.. are those dudes still single?

 *Taobao is owned by Alibaba, Master of Singles' Day