Retail

Singles Day fails to capture the American consumer

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The shopping phenomenon of Singles Day might have broken records in China, but it failed to capture the attention of U.S. consumers, according to a report released Wednesday.

The Adobe Digital Index showed that the 24-hour sale celebrated on Nov. 11 has become the largest shopping day in China, but has yet to catch on in the U.S., despite participation from large retailers including Wal-Mart.

According to Adobe, Singles Day spending in the U.S. is expected to hit $1.4 billion this year. While that would represent a 14 percent increase from 2014, it falls well shy of Adobe's forecast for Cyber Monday.

The firm has predicted total spending that day will hit $3 billion this year, which would represent growth of 12 percent year over year.

A Double-11 promotion webpage on Tmall.com
Alibaba busts Singles Day sales record

As it pertains to social buzz, Adobe's report found that Singles Day could reach roughly 75,000 global English-speaking social mentions, compared to 300,000 for Amazon Prime Day back in July, and 3 million for Black Friday last year.

So far, the top four products by revenue on Singles Day in the U.S. are Air Jordan Nike shoes, the PlayStation 4, the Samsung 4K TV (curved LED), and the Apple iPad Air/Mini 2.

Adobe also said the three products most likely to run out of stock on Wednesday could be a Star Wars Kylo Ren action figure, Shopkins Shoppies dolls and Xbox Elite Wireless Controllers.

Alibaba sets records

But even though the shopping day didn't get as much traction in the U.S., it still managed to break several records.

Alibaba, the company most often associated with the event, announced on Wednesday that $14.3 billion in gross merchandise volume was settled through Alipay. That makes it the largest shopping day in history.

Carlos Kirjner, Alliance Bernstein's Internet analyst, said that Alibaba's role in Chinese consumption is only growing larger.

"The retail infrastructure in China is much poorer than what we have in the U.S. and in the West in general," he told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" Wednesday. "Alibaba is helping China leapfrog what is happening in the West."

What is Singles Day?

The ever-bigger Singles Day, held on Nov. 11 every year, was created by a group of young Chinese in the 1990s. It began as a way to celebrate single life and has become known as China's anti-Valentine's Day.

As the holiday acquired nationwide popularity, Alibaba in 2009 became the first major company to monetize it, by launching a special online sale.

Alibaba effectively transformed the day into the world's biggest 24-hour online shopping event, one that reflects the growing wealth of China's middle class.

Other e-commerce players including JD.com have since begun offering their own Singles Day sales.

An employee walks past the Alibaba logo during a media tour organized by government officials at the company’s headquarters on the outskirts of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China.
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Singles Day, which overtook Cyber Monday 2012, generated sales of $9.3 billion in 2014.

— CNBC's Nyshka Chandran and Reuters contributed to this report.