Alibaba Launches 11.11 Global Shopping Festival
On Oct. 19, Alibaba Group officially kicked off the 2018 11.11 Global Shopping Festival in Beijing, promising this year’s mega-event will be the largest ever in terms of scale and reach.
Businesses within the Alibaba ecosystem will jointly offer hundreds of millions of consumers an enriching experience that supports their pursuit of high-quality products, entertainment and fast, reliable services. The Festival will also demonstrate the enthusiasm of consumers and brands embracing Alibaba’s New Retail strategy – the convergence of 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, Alibaba Group CEO .
Over the years, the Festival has become a national online shopping carnival for consumers in China and abroad.
Zhang conceived 11.11 as a concept a decade ago, turning “Single’s Day”, also known as “double 11”, on the Chinese calendar into the world’s largest annual shopping event. The first 11.11 in 2009 brought in $7.8 million in gross merchandise value (GMV). Total GMV generated in 2017 was $25.3 billion.
Over the past decade, China’s number of Internet users has risen to 802 million and 98 percent of them are mobile1. Alibaba has captured the hearts and minds of these Chinese consumers and expects to keep leading the way in retail innovation.
The delivery companies that worked with Tmall has also experienced massive changes in the past ten years. In 2009, the average package delivery for double 11 was nothing impressive considering the GMV that year. In 2017, the packages delivered per day during double 11 has reached an unprecedented 812 million. This year, it is estimated that the number will reach 1 billion.
This year’s festival also excels in its interactive innovations. According to Liu Bo, the General Manager of Tmall Marketing Alibaba Executives, Tmall launched the “double 11 partner” strategy for this year’s shopping festival. It means that all consumers can accumulate their “energy level” using the apps under Alibaba Group, in exchange for money gifted in online “red packets”.
The interactive activities will cover over 100 core business areas and around 400 cities, which means consumers are able to win red packets on their phones when they are shopping. Cross-border e-commerce platforms including Tmall Global and Lazada will also participate in the global carnival, involving over 200 countries into its delivery zone.
