From Single’s Day to the largest global online shopping feast: Stories of China’s Black Friday (6)

Morag Hobbs, 29

Beijing

British editor, Double Eleven rookie

As someone who uses online shopping platforms a lot in China, the Double Eleven Festival is a fun way to get items I've been thinking about for a while at a discounted price. A lot of people aimlessly buy during these shopping festivals, myself included, so I'm going to try and only buy stuff I've needed for a while and things for Christ-mas, as it's at the perfect time to buy presents!

I've never taken part in the Double Eleven Festival before, but I did take part in the 618 festival earlier this year, when I got loads of discounted summer clothes.

We have adopted Black Friday in the UK, but most people think it's a bit of a scam and don't bother too much with it. People tend to prefer shopping online via a laptop in the UK, rather than always using a phone as people do in China, so that changes consumer patterns. It means I'm much more impulsive with purchases in China as I can buy something as soon as I think about it via my phone, and have it delivered the next day. I think people use shopping festivals to buy household goods and beauty products like face masks for discounted prices here. In contrast, people in the UK tend to use shopping festivals to buy larger items like washing machines and other electronics.

Despite the convenience, there are some disadvantages of online shopping in China. The apps are only in Chinese, which doesn't bother me, but I know it's the reason some of my foreign friends don't use them. Also, sometimes I buy a specific brand and when it arrives I can tell it's fake. For this reason, I've started only buying brand-ed products from Tmall as it seems to be more strict with verified sellers.