Retail in Asia

In Trends

Alibaba Group unveils plans for 2020 11.11 Global Shopping Festival

Tmall

Alibaba Group Holding Limited kicked off its 11.11 Global Shopping Festival with new innovations and features to meet rapidly changing consumer trends.

SEE ALSO : Alibaba and BMW partner for digital transformation

These include the participation of Alipay’s digital lifestyle platform; broader consumer reach and bigger promotions; “double” the number of shopping windows that will spotlight more brands, products and special offers; as well as the popular livestreaming technology creating more fun and engagement for Chinese consumers with the largest international presence to date.

For many brands, 11.11 is the single biggest growth driver every year and this year will be no exception. The annual event will continue to support the merchants with new innovations, valuable consumer insights and trusted technology, fulfilling the mission of 11.11 when it was created 12 years ago.

This year the Festival expands the concept from “single” to “double,” enabling merchants to double up on promoting their products to consumers across China not just once, but twice. A new sales window will be added from 1st November to 3rd, ahead of the main event on 11th November, with the aim of providing merchants, specifically new brands and small businesses, the opportunity to showcase their products and tell their brand stories amid the pandemic.

11.11 has become one of the most important new product launch events of the year for many brands. This year, more than 2 million new products will be introduced, which is double the amount compared to last year.

“Innovation lies at the heart of the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, and we are more committed than ever to empower businesses to capture opportunities and growth through new ideas and initiatives in this year full of challenges. The pandemic has fundamentally changed consumer shopping preferences and accelerated digital transformation of many businesses. Through our expansion from ‘single’ to ‘double,’ 11.11 will be offering more opportunities for merchants both online and offline to engage with consumers as well as provide a better consumer experience overall,” said Jiang Fan, President of Taobao and Tmall.

This year’s 11.11 experience will also be enhanced by Alipay’s digital lifestyle platform, which brings together nearly 2 million local service providers offering special promotions in more than 100 cities. Offline small- and micro-merchants across China, such as street stalls and neighborhood grocery stores, will be able to participate in the excitement of 11.11 by connecting with consumers through Alipay’s digital lifestyle platform.

Alibaba_11_Map
Source: Alibaba Group

Alibaba launched Spring Thunder Initiative early this year as a continuous effort on merchants empowerment and 11.11 is yet another milestone to help merchants regain growth. This year’s Festival will feature 14 million value-for-money products from more than 250,000 brands available on Tmall. Also, to cater for the needs of customers in lower-tier cities, Taobao Deals’ “RMB1 Sales” campaign will enable consumers to purchase goods at huge discounts with free shipping.

To meet Chinese consumers’ increasing demand for international products, Tmall Global will bring more than 2,600 new overseas brands to Chinese consumers for the first time. Alibaba’s cross-border e-commerce platform Kaola will also join 11.11 for the first time, featuring products from 89 countries and regions.

Livestreaming is expected to take the center stage of this year’s 11.11. In addition to sessions hosted by top livestreamers, about 400 company executives and 300 celebrities will also hold individual livestreaming sessions. Taobao Live will offer sessions ranging from cosmetics, electronics, to cars and houses. New features like online property viewings and virtual vehicle test drives will provide more realistic and engaging experience to help consumers with their buying decisions. Alibaba’s DAMO Academy will use artificial intelligence technology to create its first virtual livestreaming host, while Fliggy will host travel-related livestreams.

Livestreaming
Source: Shutterstock

This year’s event will have the largest international presence since it was founded in 2009. AliExpress now sells to more than 200 countries and regions worldwide. Lazada was the first to bring the shopping festival concept to Southeast Asia across six markets – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Shopping festivals such as 11.11 have also become one of the key industry growth drivers as local small-and-medium businesses participate in this biggest event alongside LazMall, the region’s largest online mall with more than 18,000 local and international brands. This year Lazada will continue its “shoppertainment” features ranging from livestreaming to new consumer games and innovations such as voice search to find items.

Alibaba’s robust technology and logistics infrastructure is the backbone of the 11.11 Shopping Festival. Cainiao will charter approximately 700 flights during 11.11. More than 50% of this year’s cross-border parcels are expected to be delivered twice as fast as its usual speed.

Below are 11 highlights from 11.11’s pre-sales period:

#1. 11.11 PRE-SALES KICK OFF WITH A BANG

o The number of consumers shopping during the first hour of presales more than
doubled compared to the same period last year.

o More than 300 brands recorded the results on the first full day of presales that
surpassed the same period of last year.

#2. TAOBAO LIVE TRANSACTIONS JUMP 400%

o In the first 10 minutes of presales, transactions generated from Taobao Live exceeded the entire first-day presales performance of last year. By the end of the first 30 minutes, transactions had surpassed RMB50 billion (US$7.49 billion), marking a 400% year-over- year increase.

o Flight attendants from Hainan Airlines promoted its flexible flight packages during a livestreamed broadcast on Fliggy. Within two hours, the number of consumers who
purchased the packages was enough to fill 100 airplanes.

#3. ALIBABA’S DAMO ACADEMY LAUNCHES WORLD’S FIRST REAL-TIME TRANSLATED LIVESTREAM

o Alibaba’s DAMO Academy and AliExpress completed the world’s first e-commerce platforms with multiple languages real-time translated livestream, which was able to support the translation of Chinese into English, Russian and Spanish.

#4. INVENTORY VOLUME HITS A NEW HIGH

o As of October 21, close to 10 million tons of products – almost a double from last year – have been moved into Cainiao’s warehouses.

o Cainiao‘s smart logistics network recorded the highest inventory volume to-date, which weighted more than 16,000 A380 Airbuses together.

#5. KING OF INVENTORY

o Skincare products, feminine hygiene goods and household cleaning items are this year’s top three must-buy categories for stocking up on.

o Inventories of imported cosmetics for men increased by more than 3,000% year over year while imported pet food increased by 200% year over year.

#6. 800,000 HOUSING LISTINGS DISCOUNTED FOR 11.11

o This year’s 11.11 features special offers on 800,000 housing units, with discounts reaching more than RMB1 million (US$ 149,950).

#7. KAOLA ROLLS OUT MICHELIN-GRADE FOOD AND WINE

o Kaola rolled out a selection of the world’s top ingredients and fine wines. Among these, sales for chicken with brown rice from Thailand grew by 310% on the first day of the presales. Also featured was the highest-quality Japanese whisky, valued at more than RMB1 million (US$ 149,950) per bottle.

#8. TMALL GLOBAL SOURCES 1.2 MILLION NEW IMPORTED GOODS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

o Tmall Global launched its Outbound Cloud Shopping Festival (designed to make it easy to shop anywhere, especially during the travel restrictions brought by the pandemic) on the first day of 11.11’s presales. More than 26,000 brands – including 2,600 new brands – from 84 countries participated to bring consumers 1.2 million new imported goods.

#9. GUARANTEED AUTHENTICITY ALLOWS CONSUMERS TO SHOP WITH CONFIDENT

o 11.11’s global traceability system enables the traceability of 30,000 branded products across 6,000 categories to ensure the authenticity of the featured items.

#10. 2.33 MILLION MERCHANTS PARTICIPATE IN THE ‘GOODS FOR GOOD’ PHILANTHROPY PROGRAM

o 2.33 million merchants have taken part in the “Goods for Good” philanthropy program this 11.11, allowing consumers to easily make charitable donations when placing orders.

SEE ALSO : Alibaba Group acquires Sun Art Retail Group

#11. 8,500 CAMELS FROM DUBAI’S ROYAL CAMEL FARM PREPARE FOR 11.11

o Tmall Global has worked with 100 farms, ranches and wineries around the world to bring different products to consumers, from African coffee to Thai latex. In preparation for 11.11, the platform has also joined forces with Dubai’s largest royal camel farm to bring together 8,500 camels to produce 1.6 million liters of delicious and nutritious camel milk.