Singles' Day Recap: 2023

'Tis our favorite annual reminder of our current relationship status: Singles' Day.  (Fun fact, it was initially known as "Bachelor's Day" when it was first created at Nanjing University in Beijing, China in 1993.)  Officially co-opted by Alibaba as a promotional shopping event in 2009, it's become a global phenomenon.  However, the 11.11 holiday is also perched at the beginning of the holiday shopping season, making it something of a kick-off to the promotional season ahead.  Let's highlight the key promotions and categories that were in focus this past Singles' Day.

US Market

In the US market, Singles' Day also happens to coincide with the national holiday Veterans' Day, meaning that a promotional discount was not hard to come by.  Over this weekend, the average promotional discount was 36.35%.  This is higher than last Singles' Day weekend, when the average promotional discount was 34.48%.  Notably, promotions highlighting early Black Friday deals were equally prevalent in our analysis.  

The categories most likely to be marked down during Singles' Day weekend were definitively end-of-season items like tank tops, t-shirts and denim shorts.  We also saw jewelry items like rings, necklaces and earrings amongst the most discounted over Singles' Day weekend.

Tops were "top" sellers, in terms of sold out product counts, the weekend of Singles Day, including specific items like t-shirts, sweatshirts, and button front shirts.

UK Market

What kinds of deals were to be had this past Singles' Day weekend in the UK?  The average promotional was 37.84%, and similar to what we saw in the US market, much of the promotional messaging centered on "Black Friday" and gifting for the holidays.

The categories with the greatest share of items on sale in the UK included: summer footwear, swimwear, and shorts.  Dresses and jeans were also likely to be marked down over the promotional holiday weekend.

The categories with the most sold out products in the UK were shirts, dresses, sweaters and pants, indicating that categories outside those with the heaviest discounts were still of interest to UK shoppers.

German Market

Promotional discounts were abundant in Germany over Singles' Day weekend, with the average promotional discount reaching 40.51%, nearly identical to its levels during the same weekend in 2022 (40.49%).

Examining the hot categories for discounts we see similar themes to what we uncovered in the US and UK markets: end-of-season merchandise from summer was most likely to be on sale, including categories like swimwear and shorts.

Categories with the greatest number of sold out products over the Singles' Day weekend in Germany covered many key apparel categories like shirts, sweaters, and sleepwear.  Jewelry also made an appearance amongst the top sold out categories.

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