One thing is for sure: over the next two weeks expect to hear a lot about Alibaba. Singles’ Day is approaching fast. A time to break records - crazy mind blowing records, that is.

But what exactly is Singles Day and why is it called that way? Singles’ Day got its name from its date, November 11. The date written as 11/11 looks like “bare sticks” standing by themselves, a Chinese expression for the single and unattached. The roots can be traced back to China’s university campusses where single students celebrated the day as sort of an antidote to the societal pressures of being in a relationship. Many of China’s singles began splurging on themselves on Singles Day, which became seen as a type of anti-Valentine’s Day. To cater to these consumers, Alibaba held its first Singles’ Day shopping event in 2009 to serve these consumers.

For any brand involved in China’s ecommerce, it is also the time to make or break its commercial year. It is a double-edged sword, however, because everyone’s gross margin becomes razor thin if not negative. And it has become worse. There is now a pre-Single’s Day sale and then Single’s Day is followed by Double Twelve only a month later.

Another trend dangerous to brands is Alibaba’s growing strength in exploiting big data and developing their own private-label brands and products. Anyway, diversification away from Alibaba will be key for many overseas brands come 2020.

We will give you a solid summary once the party is over, but here are a couple of points to be aware of while we are moving closer to the big shopping festivals:

• It starts ten days earlier than last year;

• The shopping festival becomes an even bigger entertainment highlight (btw, Taylor Swift just confirmed her appearance!);

• The push to go global intensifies with the Alibaba properties Lazada and AliExpress being leveraged in overseas markets;

• More than 200,000 brands offering more than one million new products will participate;

• This is the first Singles’ Day without Jack Ma.