Xiaomi Mi 4 Discounted on China’s ‘Lonely Singles’ Day

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November 5, 2014 by ...

On November 11 China’s singles celebrate the ‘lonely singles’ day. This date is like an inverse Valentines day, where single people commiserate about their inability to find a spouse. This is hard for many men in China as there are millions more of them than women. These people are victims of the one-child policy, as you may know. Due to this demographic nightmare and other social considerations, singles in China are not uncommon.  As a much higher percentage of Chinese men than women buy Xiaomi phones, this day is doubly special for them.

Singles day started out as a way for Chinese to look for a future mate. November 11 was specifically chosen for many reasons. The ‘1’s for example, represent a single person. Continuing with this logic, 1111 represents many singles and in China’s photographic language, this image even represents a group of individuals.

What started out as a day to look for mates has morphed into a time for singletons to commiserate with one another, drink, eat and shop. In fact, 11-11 has now become China’s day to buy things. Consider it like Black Friday in the USA, but much bigger as can be seen in the chart below from here.

In order to capitalize on this buying fever, Chinese companies run deep discounts. Oftentimes Chinese will put off purchases for just this reason. They know or suspect that waiting a few weeks will net them a tidy savings on November 11th.

There has been speculation about what Xiaomi will do on this day and now it looks like we know. According to their website the price of the Mi 4 will drop from RMB1999 to RMB1799, a discount of $30 or 10%. This should help boost Xiaomi sales for the quarter considerably.

 

 

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