For Alibaba, ‘singles day’ is about more than sales

Christmas comes early in China. November 11, known as “Singles Day,” is the world’s biggest 24-hour shopping event. The day has come to represent a unifying cultural event of unabashed retail therapy, coupons, lightning promotions and gamified social media campaigns from retailers across the country.

The statistics are staggering, both for the sheer volume of sales transacted in just one day and for year-over-year increases that, so far, defy the gradual slowdown in China’s overall economic growth. 2019 was no exception, with e-commerce giant Alibaba reporting sales activity totaling 268.4 billion yuan ($38.4 billion), surpassing last year’s haul of 213.5 billion yuan ($30.5 billion) by nearly 26%. As a comparison, that’s more than 2.5 times the U.S. sales of last year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.

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From the viewpoint of Alibaba and other online retailers in China, then, what is the advantage of Singles Day? Our Hangzhou trip provided a surprising answer. Nearly every employee we spoke to described the challenges of “Double 11” not as a necessary evil, but rather as the event’s primary added value. They spoke of Singles Day as a stress test that forces the entire organization past its limitations, enabling it to accomplish and become what would be impossible otherwise.

Representatives from the Chinese companies we talked to mentioned several specific business areas where Singles Day annually spurs ambitious next-level change.

First, product innovation. According to Chris Dong, global chief marketing officer of Alibaba, as of 2018, 1 million new products are launched on

Double 11. The pre-eminence of Singles Day creates the ideal platform for companies to launch new offerings.

Another benefit is silobusting. Silos are a universal problem for organizations; even though managers know it is important to work across teams and units, in the normal course of business they can get along without doing it. Double 11, however, requires allhands-on-deck cooperation.

The cross-silo relationships and networks forged in the crucible of Double 11 are apt to deepen with time, if only for the sake of being prepared for the following year’s Singles Day.

Finally, nothing brings people together like a dose of adversity, and the demanding regimen of Double 11 fosters greater team cohesion that lasts through the year.

(QuyhuyisaprofessoratinSEAD.)