Xiaomi Plans to Sell 2 Million Cell Phones on Singles’ Day in China

Xiaomi Corporation is charged up to sell as many as 2 million cell phones this Singles’ Day which is November 11th.

Singles’ Day or Guanggun Jie is a day for bachelors and bachelorettes and celebrated on November 11th in China.  The date is chosen for the connection between singles and the number ‘1’. This holiday became popular among young Chinese people.  In recognition of the day, young singles organize parties and Karaoke to meet new singles or try their fortunes. It has become the largest online shopping day in the world.

Xiaomi is at the ready for Singles’ Day sales.  Hugo Barra, Xiaomi’s vice president of global operations, told Bloomberg TV at the company’s Beijing headquarters Tuesday. “Of course we have to be ready for this. So we’ve prepared about 2 million smartphones so that we can sell them in one single day.”

The annual Singles’ Day promotion has become China’s single biggest shopping event, accounting for a major portion of revenue for the country’s merchants, similar to America’s Cyber Monday after Thanksgiving. Singles’ Day this year is expected to defy an economic slowdown and eclipse the record 57.1 billion yuan ($9 billion) spent in 24 hours in 2014.

Xiaomi is excited to see strong sales.  The company is one of the world’s most valuable technology startups with a $45 billion valuation as of last year, it rose up the ranks of the global smartphone market with an online sales model and low-priced, high-performance phones that challenged Samsung Electronics. Stiffer competition however pushed its shipments lower last quarter.

The powerful Beijing-based company, which just celebrated its fifth anniversary, has been called the Apple of China. Its CEO, Lei Jun, even dons black turtlenecks and blue jeans during some events, similar to what Steve Jobs often wore for Apple product launches.

So, this Wednesday 1.7 million delivery drivers and 400,000 vehicles will fill the streets in China and begin delivering 760m parcels expected to be ordered during a 24-hour online shopping spree that’s dubbed as the world’s greatest online shopping fiesta.

The United States should adopt this tradition from China. If it is a big hit in China it will be a big hit in the United States. According to Pri.org singles now out number married people in the US.

As millions of shoppers click their way to consumer happiness, cell phone charging kiosks are ready to keep devices charged.  Companies like Veloxity offer commercial phone charging kiosks to rent or purchase.