Monday marks the beginning of Prime Day 2018. The artificial holiday created by the online retail giant Amazon offers deals on a variety of goods. In 2017, the holiday generated about $2.8 billion in sales and is projected to do even better this year. Prime Day, however, records a tiny fraction of the sales by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s Singles Day, which saw more than $25 billion in spending in 2017. Although Prime Day might be big, here’s why it doesn’t yet compete with the Singles Day shopping bonanza.
Singles Day was originally a day to celebrate those without romantic partners and is observed in China on Nov. 11, because the number one symbolically represents being single. Alibaba, however, has rebranded the day as a shopping carnival encouraging customers to purchase gifts for themselves. In many ways, Amazon’s Prime Day copies the idea behind Singles Day, making an artificial holiday for online shopping — but, by all accounts, the Chinese version is more over the top with performances and game shows making for a highly interactive shopping experience.
