关于双十一，这些事你不可不知

在美国，最受关注的网上购物节是每年11月感恩节后开业第一天——“黑色星期五”和此后第一个周一“网络星期一”，但比起中国的“双十一”，这两天简直是小巫见大巫。去年，“双十一”一天出售的货品就超过了“黑色星期五”和“网络星期一”两天销量总和。

“双十一”由阿里巴巴策划组织，如今已成为全球最盛大的电商狂欢日。什么是“双十一”？引发了哪些影响？以下是几个常见问题。

何为“双十一”？

中国人把“双十一”又称为光棍节，因为11月11日这个日子由数字一组成，隐含单身的意思。原本是单身人士过的节。但就像美国的松饼日和劳工日一样，现在这天更像零售商的促销活动日。

“双十一”是怎么开始的？

“双十一”最早出现在上世纪90年代中，但直到2009年，阿里巴巴为了推动零售商在电商平台打折用来主打宣传活动，“双十一”才开始闻名于世。

和亚马逊的会员日Prime Day有没有关系？

没什么关系。不过，亚马逊首席执行官杰夫·贝佐斯显然把“双十一”当成了榜样。和“双十一”一样，亚马逊为期一天的会员日促销也选在往常的销售淡季。除了正常的节日推广，亚马逊对会员日也采取连篇累牍的广告轰炸，由此在美国零售界独占鳌头。

在美国电商领域，Prime Day没有敌手。据美国财经媒体CNBC估算，今年亚马逊的Prime Day销售额约为10亿到22亿美元。

“双十一”整个活动只持续一天？

开玩笑，哪个成功的零售促销活动不弄上十天半个月？今年“双十一”三周前预售交易就开始了。

阿里巴巴到底卖了多少钱？

去年“双十一”，阿里巴巴总销售额178亿美元，今年超越去年成绩。今年还有酒商推出特惠活动，客户只需在双十一当天支付1.1111万元人民币（约合1673美元），以后每月都可享受送酒服务，持续一辈子。

让我们用数据来直观感受一下“双十一”的巨大威力。阿里巴巴集团首席执行官张勇2015年曾在公司内部一篇博客中这样描述：“2013年，我们一天的商品交易总额（GMV）是51.4亿美元，现在一小时就能达到。”

2015年的“双十一”当天，第一个小时平均每秒订单高达17.5万笔。（财富中文网）

译者：Pessy

审校：夏林

While Black Friday and Cyber Monday get all the attention in the U.S., China’s Singles Day puts them both to shame. Last year, more items were bought during the 24 hours of Singles Day than the entire combined Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales in the states.

The event, conceived and organized by Alibaba, is the biggest commerce day in the world. But what is Singles Day? And what has it spawned? Here are a few answers to commonly asked questions.

What is Singles Day about?

Call it the anti-Valentine’s Day. The date 11/11 is significant because of the solitary implications of the number 1. And it was originally meant for people who wanted to celebrate being single. Though, much like National Pancake Day and Labor Day, it has turned into more of a retail event.

How did it get started?

Singles Day first popped up in the mid-90s. But it really came into prominence in 2009, when Alibaba began using it as a tent pole event to promote retailer discounts on its e-commerce platforms.

Is it tied, somehow, to Amazon’s Prime Day?

Not specifically — though Jeff Bezos certainly used Singles Day as a model of success. Amazon’s one-day sales event, like Singles Day, takes place during a time where, previously, there was a lull in that retailer’s world. By focusing its marketing efforts on a single day, apart from the din of holiday advertising, it’s able to stand out from the pack.

Dollarwise, there’s no comparison. Amazon’s Prime Day netted somewhere between $1 billion and $2.2 billion this year, according to CNBC.

Is it just a one-day event?

Come on. Does any successful retail event not suffer from sprawl? Walk-up deals started appearing three weeks before the actual day this year.

How much money does Alibaba make?

Last year, Alibaba grossed $17.8 billion in sales on Singles Day. And it hopes to top that in 2017 with the offer of a lifetime supply of alcohol for just $1,673.

To put a number that big into perspective, here’s how Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang described it in 2015 on the company blog: “Back in 2013, $5.14 billion was our one-day GMV. Now we can achieve it in one hour.”

In the first hour of Singles’ Day that year, orders came in 175,000 per second.