Fancy a lifetime supply of liquor? Chinese firm is offering just that for S$2,280

CHONGQING (China) — It may be the logical conclusion of a shopping event originally designed to cheer up lovelorn singles: the chance to secure a lifetime’s supply of liquor with which to drown their sorrows.

This year for Singles’ Day, the world’s biggest retail event, one Chinese store is reported to be offering just that for a one-off payment of 11,111 yuan (S$2,280).

Perhaps anticipating the likely demand for such a service, Mr Jiang Xiaobai, a Chongqing-based online retailer, is limiting the offer to just 33 tickets on a first-come, first-served basis.

The online sale will begin at midnight on Nov 11 – hence the price tag – which was first branded as Singles’ Day in 2009.

Singles’ Day – also known as Double 11 – was a marketing idea pioneered by the online retailer Alibaba, the owner of the South China Morning Post, with the aim of creating a shopping festival in the period between China’s National Day at the start of October and New Year’s Eve.

The original pitch – that it offered discounts to cheer up lovelorn singles – made it popular with university students. But the lure of the discounts and the boom in online shopping soon gave it a much broader appeal and it is now seen mainly as a shopping event.

Last year the value of transactions on this day topped US$17.8 billion (S$24.2 billion) – surpassing its nearest US equivalent Black Friday, which happens later this month on the day after Thanksgiving.

A wide variety of Chinese retailers now offer promotions to mark the event, and the lifetime’s supply of drink is just one of the more eye-catching offers.

Under the terms of the deal, Mr Jiang will send subscribers a dozen bottles of “baijiu”, a fiery Chinese spirit, every month until their death, according to Beijing Youth Daily. If they die within five years of signing up family members can inherit the contract.

The bottles of the spirit normally sell individually for 196 yuan, and after five years the total value of the shipments will pass the 11,111 yuan mark. After that, the drinkers will be able to toast a profit.

Beijing-based lawyer Chang Sha said the deal is legal, but warned that it could be cancelled if the company goes bankrupt.

The online store said it is the second time it had provided such an offer.

Over the rest of the year it also offers the chance to buy a lifetime’s supply of baijiu for nine times the price of the special offer.

The shop said it sold 19 such packages in the past. It is not clear how many were sold on Singles’ Day.

“I have bought a lifetime guarantee,” one customer said in the comment area of the retailer’s website. “Hope they will keep the promise.” SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST