The retail industry has undergone multiple transformations during the past century, with those who adapt and innovate continuing to survive. It also helps if one is exceptionally unique. It seems that the world's consumers have gotten a little tired from having to explore multiple shopping locations to find what they want or need.

In Southeast Asia, the rise of e-commerce has changed how people shop. Throughout 2016, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand generated US$14.8 billion in online sales. A 2019 report from Facebook and Bain & Company found that ASEAN’s digital consumers’ spending will triple by 2025. However, traditional retail has not gone into extinction; instead, it has flourished. So much so, there is now a glut of shopping malls across Southeast Asia.

The annual 11.11 Singles’ Day Sale has become an event for both shoppers and e-commerce merchants across Southeast Asia, recording online sales that exceed all expectations. Singles’ Day came to be after students at the Nanjing University in China, started celebrating their singledom, in what was known as anti-Valentine’s Day back in the 1990s. Singles’ Day was then adopted by e-commerce giant, Alibaba, in 2009.