November 11 used to be termed 'Singles' Day' and was a celebration of singledom created in Nanjing University in 1993. China’s largest online shopping platform, Alibaba, has now turned Singles Day into Double-11 and in the process rebranded the day as a celebration of consumption enjoyed by all.

In the last decade, the "Double-11" shopping day has attracted more than 600 million people from around the world to participate. With 180,000 brands offering huge discounts, a mature e-commerce market has been cultivated in China, and this day has led to other nations upping production to satisfy the mammoth demand from China.

Japanese stores: sales volume of this day equal to that of a month

Japan’s Fuji TV reported on November 9 that Kyoto Ayabe’s food manufacture brand Calbee built a new Kyoto factory in July this year, driven by a surge in demand from China. Before the arrival of “Double 11”, the production capacity of the plant reached its peak. The plant makes products only exported to China and their cereal food packages are marked in Chinese to localize them for China. Although the price is several times that in Japan, people in China made a mad rush for it during the massive buying spree.

Chinese appetite sets Spanish pig-slaughter record

In 2017, it was reported that huge demand in China led to a shortage of French butter and Spanish ham. Data shows that the trading volume of Spanish ham on Tmall.com, China's largest business-to-consumer website, grew by 50% year-on-year in 2017. It is expected that it will continue to surge this year.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Spain has stepped up its efforts to raise pigs in order to meet the huge Chinese demand. In the past five years, Spain's pork production has grown by an average of 20% per year.