Internationally, February 14 of each year is known by many as Valentine’s Day. It is the day to celebrate couples being together. However, for those who are single, it can be sad as singles have no partner to celebrate with.

The story is that in the 1990s, students at Nanjing University in China began celebrating November 11 as the singles’ version of Valentine’s Day. The date of November 11 was chosen in a figurative sense, the 4 characters of ones mean 2 single people together. After all, one is the loneliest number, and the Chinese name Guunggun Jie (???) literally means “bare sticks day”.

The day was then marketed by the Chinese e-commerce company, Alibaba, which launched the first Double 11 sale in 2009. The term was trademarked, and only Alibaba can use the official name “Double 11”. To avoid copyright infringement, other companies following suit use 11.11 or Singles Day.

Single’s day is the biggest sale in the world! It’s much bigger than Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday combined. Black Friday in the US saw online sales hit a record high of just over US$3 billion in the US and sales between Thanksgiving and Cyber ​​Monday they accounted for just $12.8 billion in 2016.

Single’s Day had gone unnoticed by most of the world, but in 2016, Chinese shoppers spent an astonishing US$17.8 billion in 24 hours on Alibaba’s online platform. In 2017, Alibaba reported that Singles Day sales totaled $25.3 billion, a 40 percent increase from last year’s figures. The growth is fueled by its growing international popularity. Similar to the US version of the shopping holiday, Alibaba offered discounts on a variety of products, from home goods to electronics, clothing and beauty products.

Over the years, the cultural significance of the holiday has become for some an opportunity to say goodbye to single life. Many young people celebrate Single’s Day by going on blind dates or trying to woo a partner by buying the perfect gift. Ironically, more weddings take place on 11/11 than any other day of the year.

Some of the deals were also matched by brick-and-mortar stores, and in the near future, sales are expected to become more personalized as brands used big data to refine their targets. All in all, Singles Day now becomes a day where everyone, regardless of their relationship status, buys gifts for themselves.