---
title: "Black Friday Is Nothing Compared to Chinese E-Commerce Giant Alibaba's Singles' Day"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/240533b2-099c-4807-9af9-65d1491c1230
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/black-friday-is-nothing-compared-to-chinese-e-commerce-giant-alibabas-singles-day-2711570
category: "Retail"
industry: "Retail"
topics: ["Finance & M&A"]
published: 2019-11-11T16:11:04.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T02:30:39.932Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/f84748a5231b9ebc0b7b21e10a1725cb7767.jpg
---

# Black Friday Is Nothing Compared to Chinese E-Commerce Giant Alibaba's Singles' Day

**TL;DR:** Alibaba's Singles' Day generated $31 billion in sales, surpassing Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. The event featured a star-studded livecast with over 200,000 participating brands.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2019-11-11. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/black-friday-is-nothing-compared-to-chinese-e-commerce-giant-alibabas-singles-day-2711570).*

## Story

**Singles' Day, an entire 24-hours of festivities and fanfare put on by the mega-retailer Alibaba, owner of** **Aliexpress.com****, took place this year in Shanghai, China and raked in $31 billion in sales. According to** **CNBC****, this year’s festivities kicked off with a concert by none other than Taylor Swift.

The equivalent to $13 billion USD was spent in the first hour alone. AliExpress, a Chinese B2C e-commerce site and Amazon’s largest competitor, is known for its impossibly huge catalog, dirt-cheap goods and the massive shopping extravaganza known as** **Singles' Day****. Singles' Day originated in China in the ‘90s as a way to celebrate being single, but quickly transformed into the largest shopping day of the year.

**While regular brick-and-mortar stores also take part in Singles' Day sales, the Alibaba event is the highest-grossing by a landslide, and features a star-studded livecast to accompany its sale featuring more than 200,000 participating brands. While** **Cyber Monday has eclipsed Black Friday** **for many consumers in the U.S., both events pale in comparison to the revenue-generating power of Singles' Day.**

**Globally, the e-commerce industry—which thrives on the convenience of online shopping and home delivery—continues to boom** **as traditional retail stores falter****, but this trend isn’t limited strictly to retail concepts. Franchises like** **Pizza Hut** **have temporarily closed hundreds of underperforming stores in an attempt to reopen new “express” models that cater to consumers who aren’t looking for a dine-in experience.**

**More and more people in the franchising industry are searching for concepts that are “Amazon-proof”, or resilient in spite of the global consumer trend to buy online, but maybe the solution is to swim with the current than against it.** **Ghost Kitchens****,** **delivery options****, and** **in-app ordering** **are all ways to appeal to the convenience-driven consumer—while keeping their dollars with your franchise concept.**

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Retail (sector)
- Amazon (company)
- Pizza Hut (company)
- online shopping (topic)
- retail trends (topic)
- franchise concepts (topic)
- e-commerce sales (topic)
- singles' day (topic)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/black-friday-is-nothing-compared-to-chinese-e-commerce-giant-alibabas-singles-day-2711570). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/240533b2-099c-4807-9af9-65d1491c1230).