U.S. Retailers Are Developing an October Sales Holiday, Bloomberg Reports

Retailers are DIY-ing a holiday discount event in October, per Bloomberg. Welcome to online shopping, where the holidays are made up and the date doesn’t matter.

Happy 10.10 Day. It’s an October 10 U.S. shopping event meant to mirror 11.11, aka November 11’s Singles’ Day, in China.

• More than two dozen major retailers are reportedly participating—but haven’t revealed their involvement or the scope of their discounts yet.
• Shopkick, a rewards app, will host a sale hub for partner brands during the event.

By adding a (presumably) large sales event in October, retailers hope to swerve supply chain disruptions during their busiest season.

• In a typical year, retailers are overwhelmed in the lead-up to Christmas.
• Between pandemic shipping delays and product shortages, they now anticipate an even bigger December bottleneck.

Even if 10.10 can attract shoppers, it’ll need decades to match Singles’ Day’s scope. The latter topped $38 billion in 2019.

Zoom out: Retailers that haven’t shared their 10.10 pledge will roll out holiday deals earlier than ever. Home Depot will start holiday discounts on November 8; Amazon’s Prime Day is reportedly scheduled for October 26.