Every year on November 11, Alibaba Group holds the world’s largest 24-hour online shopping event. The 11.11 shopping festival began in 2009 with participation from just 27 merchants as an event for Tmall.com merchants and consumers to raise awareness of the value in online shopping. Seven years later, 11.11 has become a global event with participating merchants in the tens of thousands, buyers in the millions, and total sales in the billions.
Alibaba 11.11 Global Shopping Festival
“This year will be Alibaba’s most global 11.11 event ever with more than 11,000 international brands signed up,” the Alibaba Group said in a statement obtained by The Jakarta Post, citing Apple, Sephora, Target, Shanghai Disneyland and Victoria’s Secret as first-time international brands that are participating in this year’s sale.
Kicking off at midnight tonight (7pm AEDT) on Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group’s online platforms, this year’s Singles Day sale is considered the world’s largest e-commerce event, even surpassing the prominent US Black Friday, with around US$14.3 billion in transactions generated from the one-day event, taking place in 232 countries and regions around the world.
English soccer player David Beckham and his wife, businesswoman Victoria Beckham, retired American professional basketball player Kobe Bryant and American pop band One Republic are among the celebrities attending the gala to count down to the global shopping event. Singer Katy Perry canceled her show at the last minute because of personal reasons.
Alibaba 11.11 Global Shopping Festival
