Singles’ Day: How to Prepare Your Business

Singles' Day on November 11 is the world's biggest shopping event. Get four practical strategies to prepare your store, from mobile-ready pages to email campaigns and video ads.

You may be asking yourself, what is Singles’ Day? Singles’ Day, celebrated on November 11, is a sales event that originated in China. But it wasn’t always a shopping bonanza.

In fact, it began in 1993 as a day for singles to treat and celebrate themselves in the same way couples and families celebrate various milestones. Since then, it has become the biggest online shopping day in China—bigger than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. In Chinese culture, numbers carry a lot of significance. While the number one can signify a win (i.e., first place), it also represents loneliness or a solo relationship status. The holiday started at Nanjing University as a way for students to celebrate their singledom (it was founded by four single young men, which is why it was originally called Bachelors’ Day). It’s also known as the “bare sticks holiday” because of the way four 1s appear in the calendar. 

Singles’ Day is not only celebrated in China but is becoming more and more popular in the US and around the world. About 250,000 brands participated in the Singles’ Day event last year, with the US being the top country selling to China by gross merchandise value. Take advantage of this holiday marketing opportunity to boost sales and attract new customers. Learn how to prepare for Singles’ Day early with the following four strategies.

Top four Singles’ Day strategies

1. Optimize for mobile

Ensure that your online store is easy to browse through on mobile because statistics show that 90% of Singles’ Day purchases are made on mobile devices. Prior to 11/11, make sure your pages and products are well laid out, with clear headings and consistent branding, and that your pages load fast enough to not disrupt the overall shopping experience. 

Learn more about site optimization.

2. Communicate your offers and promotions early 

It’s important to start communicating your offers and promotions a month in advance of Singles’ Day. This will give you the opportunity to build brand awareness to new customers and get existing customers excited about your upcoming promotions for the holiday. 

Shopify Messaging now offers a new Singles’ Day email template, making it easy to create and send an email campaign in just a few clicks. The template highlights a discount section followed by a call-to-action button that automatically applies the discount to a customer’s cart, along with a featured collection section where you can highlight products that are new or a part of the promotion. We recommend sending out a teaser announcement about your upcoming promotion with our sales template and then duplicating the Singles’ Day template and sending an email out to your customers on 11/11. It's also a great time to confirm your email list prior to 11/11.  A healthy list will have a greater chance of being delivered to the inbox.  So as you are sending out teasers, ask that your subscribers confirm their email addresses so they don't miss any of the excitement on 11/11. Get started with the Singles’ Day email template today.

3. Promote your offerings on your homepage 

Now that you’re driving traffic to your store with your email campaigns, make sure that your promotions are also displayed on your online store for visitors to see. This can be done by adding a header banner, updating your image banner, or adding a feature collection to your homepage highlighting your Singles’ Day promotion. 

Learn more about editing your online store ecommerce theme.

4. Make use of short videos

Due to the increasing popularity of short videos such as Tiktok and Instagram Stories and Reels, video ads are a great way to grow online sales by promoting your products and deals to the audiences that are most interested in them. You can create video ads, track results, and manage your orders all from within Shopify. 

Learn more about creating TikTok video ads within the Shopify admin. 

Singles' Day FAQ

When is Singles' Day, and why is November 11 the date?

Singles' Day falls on November 11 every year, a date chosen because the four 1s in 11/11 visually represent single people standing alone. Chinese university students introduced the tradition in 1993 as a lighthearted way to celebrate being unattached, long before it turned into a shopping event. The number pattern is also why the day is nicknamed the "bare sticks holiday."

Is Singles' Day an official public holiday?

No, Singles' Day is not an officially recognized public holiday anywhere, including China. It functions as a cultural and commercial occasion rather than a government-sanctioned day off, similar to how Black Friday isn't a public holiday in the US despite its massive retail impact. Businesses and shoppers treat it as a shopping event, not a guaranteed day away from work or school.

How big is Singles' Day compared to Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

Singles' Day generates more online sales than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined, making it the largest single shopping event in the world. It grew from a small university tradition into a multi-billion-dollar shopping period after major Chinese platforms began running mega sales on the date. Global brands increasingly time promotions around it to capture the surge in shopper spending.

Do Singles' Day sales run for only one day?

Not anymore—what began as a single 24-hour sale now often stretches into a multi-week shopping period. What started as a one-day event has turned into a two-week sprint for physical and digital retailers alike, and some large platforms run presales and extended promotions for over a month. This gives shoppers more time to compare deals and gives businesses more time to build momentum before November 11.

Which countries celebrate Singles' Day besides China?

Singles' Day has spread well beyond China and now sees participation from retailers and shoppers in the US, UK, Australia, Malaysia, India, and Russia, among other countries. Growth outside China continues as more international brands add Singles' Day promotions to their marketing calendars, often blending the shopping angle with local self-care or celebration traditions.