Alibaba gears up for ‘largest-ever’ 11.11 shopping festival

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Oct 22, 2018

This year marks the tenth anniversary of Alibaba’s 11.11 shopping festival and the giant Chinese e-tailer is celebrating the occasion with 180,000 brands, 200,000 offline smart stores and a ‘see now, buy now’ fashion show.

The November festival, previously known as Singles Day, is the world’s largest 24-hour online shopping event, generating over $25.3 billion in gross merchandise value last year.

Speaking in a press conference on Friday, Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang said this year’s 11.11 will be the largest-ever in terms of scale and reach, combining online and offline retail through technology.

“This year marks the 10th anniversary of 11.11. On the back of China’s explosive digital transformation, the festival’s astounding growth over the past decade has powered the steady growth of quality consumption sought by Chinese shoppers. The evolution also showcases the development of the Alibaba ecosystem over time expanding well beyond e-commerce,” said Daniel Zhang.  

The company will put its New Retail strategy, which blends the online and offline experience, to test with a number of initiatives, including a new social tool for Tmall’s  ‘see now, buy now’ fashion show.

Global consumers will be able to engage with the show as it is broadcast live on ten platforms with the interactive element ‘Play Now’ by voting on the  best outfits. Over 60 Chinese and international brands will take part in the fashion show, which was first introduced in 2016.

“Over the last two years, we have pioneered the concept of New Retail to accelerate the digital transformation of the offline. We are excited by the impressive results achieved to date and will continue to be the driving force innovating for merchants and customers in the coming decades. We aim to become both the number-one business partner for brands and the number-one shopping destination for consumers,” Zhang continued.
 
Among a long list of new features, Tmall World, AliExpress and Lazada will bring 11.11 to hundreds of millions of overseas users, and 200,000 mom-and-pop stores powered by Alibaba’s Ling Shou Tong will provide online sales promotions.