Alibaba to Push Globalization Effort with more Brands Joining Tmall for the Double 11 Shopping Festival

What is "Tmall.com Double 11 Shopping Festival"?

Tmall.com Double 11 is a national sales event created by the Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba Group; it is commonly referred to as "The Chinese shopping festival". During the event, Tmall.com, the e-commerce website under Alibaba Group, offers amazing discounts on a wide array of products.

The origin of the name comes from the date of the event, November 11, a special festival known in China as the "Singles' Festival". Originally the festival was a reason for single people to get together, hang out and enjoy their single status, but seven years ago Alibaba saw it as a business opportunity.

On November 11, 2009, Alibaba introduced a large-scale promotional event for the first time. Other e-commerce platforms soon joined in, creating the most influential online shopping event in China. During the last Double 11 event, Tmall.com generated over 467 million orders.

International Brands Creating Buzz for Tmall.com on Social Media

Last year, Alibaba made an effort to globalize its Double 11 event, with 2015 marking the beginning of the "Tmall.com Double 11 Carnival Night", which aims to create a fun and exciting atmosphere for shoppers. There is already a buzz leading up to the 2016 event, with sites like Facebook and Twitter spreading the news and brands like Braun, SK-ll, Swisse, Oral-B and in particular Starwood Hotels & Resorts -- one of the largest worldwide hotel and entertainment groups -- and its many subsidiaries such as St. Regis, W Hotels, Westin, Sheraton and Four Points, already creating advertisements.

Zhang Yong, CEO of Alibaba Group, unveiled the 2016 Double 11 strategy at the Global Shopping Festival launch ceremony earlier this year. According to Zhang, globalization is a core goal for Double 11 in 2016 with thousands of commodities to be sold to Hong Kong and Taiwan in the mode of "Sell Globally".

Local currency payment, free shipping, and local goods return are some of the services that will be provided to customers in an effort to improve their shopping experience.

Cainiao (a logistics system of Alibaba Group) is located throughout 224 countries and regions, with 110 cross-border warehouses scattered worldwide allowing deliveries to reach customers all over the world.

Keep Promoting Global "New Retail" in the Future

2015 was the first year for Alibaba's globalization, with more than 7,700 brands from 53 countries selling on Tmall global. That number is set to grow to 98,000 vendors and over 10,000,000 products available at Tmall.com on Double 11.

According to Alibaba Group there is still room for growth domestically but it is paramount to push the brand globally. The current approach of Alibaba Group is a two part strategy; first is to get more foreign brands to join the platform; second, to build trust with its customers abroad.

With the growing Chinese market, foreign brands have high expectations in China; Tmall.com is a platform that will allow them to successfully enter the Chinese market.

For Alibaba Group to move forward globally, its strategy needs to adhere to "eWTP", which was put forth by the company's founder Jack Ma at the recent G20 summit Hangzhou, China. The ultimate goal of Alibaba Group is for its globalization effort to reach every nation. With the involvement of foreign corporations and through a combined effort, Alibaba group and its partners can remove global trade barriers.