Cultural celebrations and family gatherings are the hallmarks of Asia-Pacific's festive (and in some cases sacred) seasons. The holidays also light up the retail world, with a growing number of sales events that are drawing more consumers looking for deals.

In China, social media is crucial to holiday shopping

Singles Day (November 11) reigns as the biggest shopping event in the country. The extravaganza rose 27% YoY in 2024 to RMB 1.441 trillion ($203.81 billion), per data analytic platform Syntun. By comparison, Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined in the US are expected to grow 5% YoY to $75 billion in 2024, per Bain & Company. The mid-year 6.18 Shopping Festival and the Lunar New Year also drive substantial retail spending. To find the best deals during shopping seasons, consumers in China are increasingly turning to social media. The channel leads as the top source of deal information for 54% of shoppers, according to checkout.com.