Evolution of Singles’ Day China: “Win Hearts Before You Win Carts”

China’s biggest online shopping event, Singles’ Day (or Double 11), has grown from a one-day celebration on 11/11 to a multi-week festival in recent years, with brands focusing more on emotional pull rather than relying on enticing sales tactics.

​According to the BBC, this year’s event kicked off as early as mid-October as retailers aim “to boost spending in a sluggish market”, caused by issues such as growing youth unemployment, property crisis, government debt and trade war with the US.

​Kevin Jin, CCO at BBDO Shanghai, says “Double 11 has evolved from a pure sales event into more of a year-end exam for brands. It is less about who discounts the most, and more about which brands spent the year building connection, storytelling, and cultural relevance. By the time Singles' Day arrives, consumers already know which brands spoke to them, and those are the ones that win.”

“Brands that earn attention during Singles’ Day are the ones that add meaning back to the moment,” add Winson Woo and Wanshi Lu, partners at Mother Shanghai. “The discount is still expected, but what really cuts through now is how a brand connects emotionally – through humour, storytelling, or cultural relevance. Some do it by turning shopping into shared entertainment; others by framing their products around values like craftsmanship, sustainability, or self-expression. The most effective work makes people feel part of something, rather than simply being sold to.”

In order for brands to succeed, Kevin says they must “show up” all year. “Tell real stories, stay culturally tuned-in, build connection, and make people care. Then the sales follow. Win hearts before you win carts.”

Kevin cites GORE-TEX’s ‘It’s Fun Even in Wind & Rain’as a great example. Targeting urban consumers, GORE-TEX flipped the negative perception of bad weather and reframed it as something joyful and freeing. “The insight was simple and relatable,” he says, “and the emotional message was strong, turning everyday discomfort into optimism and play.”

He also highlights fashion brand, Songmont, who built community and brand equity organically through storytelling, craft and emotional resonance instead of pure performance marketing. “This combination of authenticity, digital-native growth, and craftsmanship narrative helped them create deep loyalty and strong Singles’ Day results,” Kevin shares.

With consumers looking for brand value and connection, it seems that Singles’ Day has evolved into “more of a social barometer of China’s cultural evolution and economic momentum,” Yuni He, executive producer at P.I.G. China, tells LBB. “It has long since recovered from its fever-dream era of 2014-2020, when platforms enlisted the likes of David Hill and Feng Xiaogang to direct star-studded galas of disproportionate extravagance. Today’s 11/11 has matured. The era of a gamified, celebratory shopping craze has given way to nuanced and intentional spending behaviour.”

Yuni puts this partly down to the government’s clampdown on monopolistic practices and information asymmetry which has forced platforms to simplify promotions and align prices. Consumers are also entitled to a 30-day price-match guarantee before and after November 11, allowing them to reclaim any difference between what they paid and the lowest listed price during the period. “In other words,” she says, “Singles’ Day is no longer a price war.”

Yuni states, today, Singles’ Day is about value delivered, not just value claimed – and that value has two dimensions The first is relevance and reliability; useful products that last and fulfill their promise. The second is trustworthy sourcing; clarity across the entire chain, particularly in beauty and baby care.

“Finally, the maturation of livestream commerce from its wild-west, dystopian early days to today’s well-oiled, commercial-broadcast machines is the final pillar to ponder,” she adds. “Shoppers across income brackets follow a carefully curated list of channels – from farm-to-table butchers to own-label fast fashion creators. Foreign giants like Zara, Kérastase, Dole, and even Miraclegro have moved quickly to occupy the space, streaming daily, although the landscape remains dominated by home-grown streamers.”

A sale is secondary to building a recurring subscriber base, Yuni says. “The livestream has become a stage for brand storytelling and product education, often anchored by subscriber-only drops and limited gifts.

“Think of Singles’ Day now as the harvest,” she concludes, “an annual yield that rewards the brands which spent the preceding season engaging regularly, investing in the CRM and after-sales ecosystem, and building trust.”