Happy “Singles Day” tomorrow – the biggest online shopping day in the world

Tomorrow is November 11th. In my book, that means Veteran's Day - observed on November 11th because that was the day World War I ended in 1918. Outside the U.S. nobody celebrates Veteran's Day. And, in fact, November 11th is known as something very different in Asia - and soon, maybe even in the U.S.

In China, November 11th - "11/11" is known as "Singles Day". It's a commercial holiday that started out in China as "Bachelor Day" in the 1990's. It's a day that's celebrated in China as a total opposite of Valentine's Day. It encourages single people to buy gifts for themselves because they're sad and lonely.

Seriously. And it's HUGE. In fact, last year, Alibaba - China's biggest online shopping website, sold more stuff on Singles Day, than America did on Black Friday and Cyber Monday - combined. According to cnet.com, in 2013, Alibaba sold almost $6 BILLION of merchandise on Single's Day. This year, experts project they'll have around $10 Billion in sales. In the U.S. last year, Cyber Monday generated about $1.5 Billion in sales. So, of course, some American companies want in on the action. Here's the whole story.

Banana Don and Stephanie McCoy amuse and thrill you every weekday morning from 5:30 – 10AM on the radio at 100.7 WITL.

Banana Don can be reached via email at don.jefferson@townsquaremedia.com and on Twitter at @WITLBananaDon and @WITLFM. Also, Facebook friend Banana Don and Stephanie at Facebook.com/BananaStephanie and Facebook.com/WITLFM.