Why You Should Start Holiday Shopping Right Now

Black Friday may be the traditional start to the holiday shopping season, but the sales are starting earlier every year. It’s not because of “Christmas creep”. It’s because of Singles Day, the biggest holiday you’ve probably never heard of.

[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2019/11/the-best-deals-from-singles-day-2019/” thumb=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/11/BooHoo2-410×231.jpg” title=”The Best Deals From Singles’ Day 2019″ excerpt=”Singles’ Day is arguably the biggest shopping date on the online retail calendar with half a billion customers participating worldwide. While less well-known in Australia, the event is starting to gain traction with plenty of local retailers offering Singles’ Day deals of their own. Here are the best bargains we’ve spotted so far!”]

Singles Day debuted in China 11 years ago, hosted by ecommerce giant Alibaba. The company chose November 11, a date that’s often associated with singleness with its row of lonely ones (11/11), as an anti-Valentine’s Day celebration. (Note: While it’s currently November 12 here in Australia, most of the Northern Hemisphere is still a day behind us.)

What do you buy when you’re single? Stuff for yourself! But only online. Physical stores don’t do Singles Day.

Singles Day is huge in Asia: After Alibaba introduced the event, other ecommerce retailers got in on the act, and it’s spread to lots of other countries. Last year, Mariah Carey performed at Alibaba’s annual Singles Day live-streamed gala for Singles Day; this year, it’ll be Taylor Swift.

The shopping holiday is just starting to gain steam, but it’s big enough that there are solid sales that take place on November 11. If you’ve already made a shopping list for the holidays, you’ll want to check your favourite retailers to see if they’re offering an online sale.

Don’t believe it’s a big deal? Alibaba generated more sales in the first 10 minutes of Singles Day last year than Amazon did during its entire Prime Day event. And more than twice as much merch gets sold on Singles Day than during the five-day period that includes Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2019/11/the-best-deals-from-singles-day-2019/” thumb=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/11/BooHoo2-410×231.jpg” title=”The Best Deals From Singles’ Day 2019″ excerpt=”Singles’ Day is arguably the biggest shopping date on the online retail calendar with half a billion customers participating worldwide. While less well-known in Australia, the event is starting to gain traction with plenty of local retailers offering Singles’ Day deals of their own. Here are the best bargains we’ve spotted so far!”]

Of course, the gimmicky sale is to offer 11% off items, but you may find retailers offering deeper discounts in this one-day-only sale to start to boost their important fourth quarter sales.

In addition to all the Singles Day deals from international merchants, Aussies can also grab hundreds of local bargains today via the annual Click Frenzy sale. It kicks off at 7pm tonight with up to 99% off select tech products. You can check out some of the best Click Frenzy deals here.

Have you ever shopped on Singles Day? Trying it for the first time? Share where you found the best deals in the comments.

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