U.S. Retailers Aren’t Embracing Singles’ Day — a Billion-Dollar Sales Opportunity. This Retailer Is Trying to Change That.

U.S. Retailers Aren’t Embracing Singles’ Day — a Billion-Dollar Sales Opportunity. This Retailer Is Trying to Change That.

Why is ThinkGeek participating in Single’s Day this year? Our fans are the kind of fans that will talk to you about Festivus, a holiday made up in Seinfeld 20 years ago. When we saw that Alibaba did this insane volume of sales on Singles’ Day last year that indicated to us that a lot of people were interested in it. So, one of the things that we wanted to sort of push on it, for our fans, is the idea that 'You are the single you,' There's not anybody else who's got your own set of interests and the collection of the things that make up your interest in fandom. What products is ThinkGeek offering Singles’ Day promotions on? We have taken the path of education on this, which I don't think would work for every retailer, because we at ThinkGeek and our fans wear the label of "geek" very proudly. Why don't other U.S. retailers get in on Singles’ Day? Number two, I think a lot of people are just stuck in a position of saying, "That's a Chinese holiday." What have you learned so far about Singles' Day, for those who might want to get in on this next year? Everybody wants to be part of the next thing.

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U.S. Retailers Aren't Embracing Singles' Day -- a Billion-Dollar Sales Opportunity. This Retailer Is Trying to Change That.

This week, quirky online retailer ThinkGeek is busily preparing for the world’s biggest shopping event. But that event isn’t Black Friday, Cyber Monday or related in any way to the December holidays most U.S. shoppers traditionally shop for this time of year.

Instead, ThinkGeek is prepping for Singles’ Day, a Chinese holiday held each year on Nov. 11 which encourages singles to buy gifts for themselves. While the holiday emerged in the ‘90s, the event got a major boost when Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba began offering Singles’ Day sales in 2009. Today, the holiday has broken most sales records, with Alibaba expected to do $24 billion in sales this year (up from $17.8 billion in 2016), nearly three times the U.S. sales generated last year by Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.

Despite these eye-popping numbers, most Americans have still never heard of Singles’ Day — even as U.S. brands such as Gap and Nike participate in sales overseas. Since the holiday hasn’t yet gained traction in the U.S., ThinkGeek hasn’t just needed to promote its deals in its email blasts, social media posts and blog posts. It’s needed to educate customers that the event exists at all.

We caught up with Jeff Burchett, ThinkGeek’s director of product marketing, to learn more about why it’s one of the few retailers targeting American consumers and whether U.S. retailers should consider getting in on the action next year.

Related: Alibaba’s Singles’ Day Is a Multi-Billion-Dollar Sales Juggernaut — and You Could Build Your Own

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why is ThinkGeek participating in Single’s Day this year?
It seemed like something that would resonate with our fans. Our fans are the kind of fans that will talk to you about Festivus, a holiday made up in Seinfeld 20 years ago. They get interested in and engaged in things that are a little bit off the beaten path. We try to service all things geeky and interesting and new and unique, and not just tread down the same paths all the time.

We have some strange holidays that we celebrate at ThinkGeek. It’s a thing that we’ve made part of our brand — celebrating these obscure holidays — and some are more obscure than others. We have Send ThinkGeek a Pizza Day. As I’ve heard it told, one of our very earliest employees, about 18 years ago, had a greater-than-average love of pizza. Send ThinkGeek a Pizza Day was celebrated on his birthday, kind of as a joke. And then it became an ongoing process. Last year we didn’t promote it outside of a ThinkGeek calendar we create, and we still received a couple dozen pizzas.

We also celebrate events like Harry Potter’s birthday with sales or big giveaways. So it’s sort of nothing new for us to be trying things that other people won’t necessarily try.

Why do you think Singles’ Day might resonate with shoppers in the States?
When we saw that Alibaba did this insane volume of sales on Singles’ Day last year that indicated to us that a lot of people were interested in it. I don’t think this is the kind of thing that’s going to stay particularly localized to China. You can make it into whatever you want it to be about. If you want to make it about you and your friends, you can do that. If you want to make it about your transition from being single to marrying…

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