Discount battle on Singles’ Day – from the rebellion of single people to commercial hits – culture

November 11th makes the tills ring all over the world. Singles’ Day has also arrived in Switzerland. It started quite harmlessly with four frustrated students.

November is not the best time for being single: Summer is definitely over, the darkness from 5 p.m. does not exactly awaken a dating mood and the mulled wine in the circle of friends is not yet in sight. That’s where Singles Day comes in handy.

A day to celebrate and gift yourself. At least that’s what the advertising mails in the e-mail inbox promise. Discounts for Singles’ Day – the most suitable gifts are still the ones for yourself.

Wave of consumption of superlatives

It is not surprising that Singles’ Day has been a new shopping opportunity for years, especially in China. In fact, what arrives in this country is still harmless compared to the wave of consumption that spills over China every year on November 11th.

E-commerce giants Taobao (from Alibaba) and JD break new records almost every year. JD, for example, with almost 50 billion US dollars in 2021 – in one day.

Alibaba is throwing its own show in which the sales figures are shown live and international stars also appear, such as Taylor Swift in 2019.

But where does Singles’ Day actually come from?

Four branches trump

Singles Day originated in China in the 1990s. In 1993, four college students lay on their dorm bunk beds, ate instant noodles, drank beer, and complained that no women were interested in them. They called themselves “bare branches”, guanggun, a negative term for single men.

The four decided to celebrate 11.11. as Singles Day (“guanggun jie” in Chinese). Not only does the date consist of nothing but ones, it is also visually reminiscent of four dry twigs.

Whether the story is true or not, the self-deprecating campus tradition was beginning to catch on. Not least because being single in China often has negative connotations and the pressure from the family to find a spouse increases steadily in the twenties.

Celebrating single status away

Soon Chinese people started meeting up with friends and partying themselves, or getting over their single status. Singles’ Day became popular for love confessions and proposals, speed dating events and wedding appointments.

He even got his own snack: four «youtiao», i.e. four sticks of fried dough, just like the four ones on November 11th.

From the 2000s onwards, the day was gratefully received by the e-commerce industry. Since then he’s been ringing the tills. After all, November 11 is also conveniently located, in the seasonal slump in consumption before the Chinese New Year – or in our case: Christmas.