What Is Alibaba’s Singles Day And How Will Sales Impact American Brands?

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s (BABA) Singles Day shopping event that will kick off on Nov. 11 with an array of deals on its official site.

The event, which was thought to have started in the 1990s, was a way for men to celebrate being single, which was later turned into a mega sale’s event by Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma in 2009, The Verge noted. The shopping event has become an annual tradition and is expected to surge past the $38 billion in sales in brought in 2019, according to CNBC.

However, Chinese consumers are not leaning towards U.S. brands, which could be a boon for Chinese retailers. According to a survey by global consulting firm AlixPartners, 66% of Chinese consumers say they will shop for domestic brands over foreign labels during the 2020 Singles Day. Of these survey respondents, 62% cited patriotism as their reason for buying local.

“We can see from the survey results that Chinese consumers’ trust in local brands has been steadily growing,” Michael McCool, managing director at AlixPartners, said in a statement. “We expect a more robust growth of presence for Chinese local brands in the coming years or even decades.”

U.S. luxury products may suffer the most as the survey indicated that 43% of consumers will shop for these goods from China, with Japan trailing behind. AlixPartners said this “confirms that Chinese consumers expect to travel less and buy luxury products locally online.”

Even the coronavirus pandemic will change Chinese consumer spending habits as of the 2,029 respondents polled, 39% of them said they plan to spend more on this year’s Singles Day than they did in the past year. As many as 15% of Chinese consumers said they plan to spend less as the pandemic weighs on the local economy.

Shares of Alibaba were trading at $307.11 as of 9:54 a.m. EDT, down $10.03, or 3.16%.