How Western Brands Are Tapping Into China's Crazy-Big E-Commerce Holiday

China's Singles Day is a strange little holiday created in the '90s by university students who thought the date 11/11 looked like four solitary stick figures. Somehow, it's evolved into the country's largest e-commerce shopping event, with Western brands eager to cash in. And for good reason: Last year's Nov. 11 was so big the transactions overloaded banks, and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba logged $3 billion in sales — two times what U.S. retailers achieved on Cyber Monday. China's e-tailing fest exploded out of nowhere. Alibaba launched the holiday just five years ago with 27 brands.