Retail therapy for singletons
China's $31bn Singles' Day splurge dwarfs West's Black Friday
Overlooking the Huangpu River in Shanghai's Pudong financial district, a pearl-white, disc-shaped stadium lies nestled amid a cluster of high-rise towers and offices. Seated just outside the entrance earlier this month is what seems like an unusual visitor: a giant, neon cat. Part brand, part mascot, the cat is, in fact, the wildly popular face of Tmall, an online retail platform owned by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group. Its appearance helps explain the spectacle unfolding inside to celebrate a unique Chinese annual shopping extravaganza: Singles' Day. "Buy, buy, buy!" sings a Chinese girl band as an 18,000-strong crowd fixes its eyes on the gala stage. Adding to the frenzy, Mariah Carey and a string of global celebrities including Australian model Miranda Kerr and Cirque du Soleil, the Canadian theatre troupe, are here too, watched by tens of millions of Chinese viewers streaming it online. For the uninitiated, the frenzy of excitement surrounding an event ostensibly designe...
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