Singles’ Day is 4 x bigger than Black Friday & Cyber Monday combined and has now become the largest shopping day in the world but it’s less well known in the UK, however, over the past few years it’s been growing and some of the deals are decent hence us posting about it, although the timing couldn’t be worse as it always falls on Remembrance/Armistice Day!
Singles’ Day is a celebration of being single, it originated at a University in China in 1993 where students celebrated their pride in being single, now it’s gone global with two of China’s biggest online stores taking orders worth US$44.5 billion on just one day (2017), it’s estimated in 2019 the UK will see sales worth £1.3bn 1.
Deals are normally available for phones, tablets, smart lightning, headphones, chargers, scooters, robots, drones, cameras and loads of other tech products.
Companies that normally partake in the day:
- AliExpress
- GearBest
- JoyBuy
- Anker (or more likely on Aliexpress)
- Aukey
- Lenovo
- Asus
- Amazon (although they refuse to reference it as Singles’ day, instead, calling it Hidden Gems sale this year)
Some that may also join this year:
Things to watch out for:
- Prices increasing before the event and then dropping again
- Fake sales
- Product with similar specs being available elsewhere for less
- New sellers with poor reviews
- Import Duty / VAT on non-UK purchases
- Hidden delivery until you get the to the checkout
- Google Translate will help with your buying
- You will want to use a credit card and/or card like Curve that ensure you don’t overpay on non GBP payments
