Why Singles Day Will Likely Never Be a Thing in the US

Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba completed its 13th annual Singles Day celebration on Nov. 11 with 540.3 billion yuan ($85 billion) in what it calls gross merchandise volume over 11 days. Since 2019—when it sold $38.4 billion in 24 hours—the online retailer has extended the sale to an 11-day period. Last year, Alibaba sold $75.1 billion over that time, including about $19 billion in 23.5 hours on Singles Day itself. This complicates any year-to-year comparisons. Or, as Connie Ho, head of strategy at R/GA Shanghai, put it, “11.11