6 Singles' Day sales you can get without Taobao

If you don't speak Chinese, Taobao isn't exactly user-friendly. So, we've rounded up some deals from some of our Shanghai favourites, all of which can be snagged without having to struggle through the sites of Chinese web giants.

FIELDS

On November 11, rush to online grocery FIELDS from 8-10pm to benefit from savings of up to 60 percent off. Also on until November 13 you’ll find 50 percent off loads of fresh and pantry items on the website. But here’s the secret tip - use their app to order, and get buy-one-get-one-free deals on over 100 extra products. Be sure to check out their Thanksgiving ‘Early Bird’ specials as well, on through November 12.

Stone Ground butters

These makers of tasty 'buttahs' want you to ‘treat YO' SELF’ and your friends to some nutty extras on Singles’ Day. Spend 111RMB and get 100g of pure peanut butter for free; spend 222RMB and get 100g of pumpkin spice butter for free - which we have to say is oh-so-seasonally tasty, and Lord knows there’s just not enough pumpkin spice love in Shanghai. Get the deal by adding Wechat ID stonexground which will lead you to their newly launched Wechat store backtobasics.

Epermarket

Visit the expat grocer Epermarket just after midnight to find 111 products for 11RMB. True and simple story.

bottlesXO

If you don’t know bottlesXO, they deliver wine and beer directly to you in under one hour. No joke. So when we heard it could get better than that, well, we had to share. On 11.11 they’ll have a bunch of wines and beers going for 50 percent off. Take note - that sale is on countdown system (this means that there will be limited numbers of each sale item, and you’ve gotta get ‘em while they last). They have, however, assured us that there are enough to make many of you beer and wine lovers happy. The deals will run from 2pm on Friday until midnight, but you'd better to be quick with this one! Order through their app.

Oranges for days

As the result of a very fruitful (pun intended) citrus-growing season, you'll be able to buy local Chongming oranges for the price of 1.5RMB per jin (half kilo) through pop-up vendors in seven of Shanghai's parks. Starting from November 10, head to Zhongshan Park, Yangpu Park, Peace Park, Zhabei Park, Changfeng Park, Lu Xun Park or Shanghai Botanical Garden to get this juicy deal.

Kate & Kimi

These community-based food providers will be offering 11 percent off all Fresh @ Blue Sky Kitchen items. Save some money on their handcrafted specialty foods from the artisanal food community - prepped and ready to go meals, deli meats and cheeses, breakfast and snacks, salads and more. And it's all fresh fresh fresh.