Singles' Day Success: the post-1990 generation effect

Once again, China's Singles' Day - also referred to as Double 11 because of the four single "people" represented by the four "1111" on Nov 11 - has proved a huge commercial success.

For example, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, the world's largest e-commerce platform, has reported sales of almost 35 billion yuan ($5.7 billion) over the 24-hour period for Nov 11. This figure easily surpassed last year's equivalent of $3 billion.

This year, increases in the efficiency of payment systems like Alipay, Tenpay, and the boom of the WeChat Payment system, as well as the increased number of players in the online marketplace with the establishment of Alibaba competitors such as JD.com, Suning Appliance Co Ltd and Amazon.com Inc, has without doubt boosted the commercial success yet further.