With COVID-19 casting a shadow over the world throughout 2020, the retail world will cast its collective gaze to China this Singles’ Day (or Double 11), looking for signs of economic recovery from this online shopping extravaganza.

As countries around the world still wrestle with the direct and indirect effects of the pandemic, and with second or even third waves threatening further lockdowns, Singles’ Day could provide a much-needed boost for local Chinese brands and their foreign counterparts who are feeling the effects from their domestic markets still being in recovery mode.

With record consumer numbers expected to engage with the event, Singles’ Day 2020 is nonetheless likely to act as an important barometer for ravaged economies across the world, desperate for signs of and opportunities for recovery in times of continued uncertainty.

“We can see from the survey results that Chinese consumers’ trust in local brands has been steadily growing. We expect a more robust growth of presence for Chinese local brands in the coming years or even decades.”

-Michael McCool, Managing Director, AlixPartners

With China being the first to face the pandemic in late 2019 and subsequently the first to emerge from lockdown, its bricks and mortar retail activity now risen close to pre-COVID levels. Consequently, AlixPartners’ third annual Singles’ Day survey results provide an important indicator to retailers in China and around the globe who are either on the road to recovery, enduring a second wave, or still in the midst of the pandemic, as to what the year ahead may hold for them. Download our report for our in-depth analysis.

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