Black Friday crushes Singles’ Day Chatter in Southeast Asia

Bigger is not always better – or so retailers are discovering following the conclusion of the biggest shopping extravaganzas.

While Singles’ Day hit a record US$25.3 billion dollars in sales, it was Black Friday and Cyber Monday that dominated social media chatter in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Meltwater, a global media intelligence company, tracked online reactions in the lead-up to – and during – Singles’ Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday and found that over eight in ten conversations (82.92%) online were focused on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

“The rise of Singles’ Day in recent years has been astronomical, breaking records every year and drawing interest from around the globe. While it’s clear that Chinese consumers are spending and talking about Singles’ Day, this massive spend and conversation in China seems to have translated poorly to other markets in Southeast Asia. Black Friday and Cyber Monday still prevail, highlighting the fact that these markets have yet to be fully penetrated by the Chinese phenomenon,” said Neil Brennan, Area Director, Meltwater Japan and South East Asia.

Meltwater tracked online perceptions across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, blogs, forums, message boards and review sites from 28 October to 28 November 2017.

Indonesia generates maximum buzz

Regionally, Indonesia led the way driving the highest volume of online chatter with 88.6% of conversations centered around Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Out of the three markets monitored, Singapore generated the most social media buzz for Singles’ Day, accounting for 22.14% of the conversations, followed closely by Malaysia at 21.97%.