The Ultimate Guide for 2024 Shopping Season in the Asia-Pacific Region – Part 1

Singles’ Day & Black Friday Trend recap and forecast for 2024

This blog is the first installment of a two-part series that will delve into the trends observed in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore during the shopping season. We will also forecast what you can expect from the biggest shopping events of the year.

Trends recap

As early as late October, consumers began actively seeking not only deals but also expert shopping advice, such as ‘Top best selling beauty devices’ and ‘Editor’s Choice for the latest gadgets.’ In November, regional traffic experienced significant growth, with several peaks leading up to Singles’ Day, culminating in a 61% year-over-year increase. Black Friday witnessed a dramatic 119% year-over-year surge on the event day, preceded by a brief spike on November 22nd and 23rd of November.

Each performance metric shows positive year-over-year growth, and Skimlinks predicts this trend will continue. This prediction is supported by the continuous increase in traffic in 2024, which is 10% higher than in 2023. Additionally, publishers are leaning into the peak season opportunity more than ever.

Vertical trends and projections in 2024

This year marked a significant increase in Travel and Experiences performance. 

Travel performance during last year’s peak season was strong. Our data for November 2023 reveals that order value in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan increased by 31%, 28% and 53% respectively compared to the previous year. In Hong Kong, outbound travel is expected to surge even more in 2024:Nearly 1.3 million Hongkongers have already traveled to Japan in the first six months of 2024. In Singapore, known for its avid online travel searchers and high spending habits, travel is expected to sustain its performance this year. 

Luxury Fashion outperformed in November 2023 as well, with the year-over-year order value uplift of 158% for Hong Kong and 363% for Taiwan respectively. Taiwan, in particular, saw cross-border e-commerce account for 20% of its total e-commerce sales, suggesting that those who shop overseas are spending significantly more. International brands have a growing opportunity to capitalize on this trend during upcoming shopping festivals.

There was further growth in Health (+270%) in Hong Kong, and Electronics (+56%) and Sports apparel (+990%) in Singapore in terms of order value.

Content Inspiration for Singles’ Day

Here are some examples of top-performing articles from Singles’ Day and Black Friday. Deals and listicles are the top two types of articles during the online shopping season. Additionally, educational pieces, such as those explaining what Black Friday is, perform well in this region.

• Editor’s Choice Deals
• Top best selling beauty devices
• Recommended designer bags
• Luxury stay at top-rated hotels
• What is Black Friday?
• What to buy for young ones for Christmas
• Featuring Trend setting influencers 
• Tech Deals Marathon through Cyber Monday

Top performing product categories during Singles’ Day & Black Friday

We selected the top-performing product categories based on order value in the Skimlinks Network during the 2023 shopping season. These categories serve as a guideline for deciding which products to feature in your commerce content.

Key levers to optimize content

To maximize revenue potential, publishers can implement these five tactical steps. For additional support, consider leveraging Flat Fee Partnerships and working with the Skimlinks Editorial team to amplify your editorial efforts.

In the next blog, we will dive deeper into trends in the Luxury & Premium Fashion vertical that Skimlinks and our partners have monitored in 2024 and showcase our forecast for the Q4 Shopping Season.