What’s the Story?

The 11.11 Global Shopping Festival (also known as Singles’ Day or Double 11) takes place annually in November in China. Ahead of this year’s event, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba hosted a virtual press conference on October 27, 2021, to share details and updates about its new features for 11.11, brand participation and key trends. The conference was led by Chris Tung, Alibaba’s Chief Marketing Officer; Anita Lyu, General Manager at Tmall Global; and Liqing Zheng, Consumer Marketing Leader for the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival 2021. In this report, we present highlights from the conference that offer key insights into this year’s Singles’ Day event across Alibaba’s platforms.

Alibaba’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival Virtual Press Conference: Five Key Insights into Singles’ Day 2021

1. Sustainability Takes Center Stage Alibaba launched the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival in 2009, so this year will see the 13th annual event. Alibaba’s priority in the earlier years was on driving GMV, but the company is now focusing on the value it can create for society, including by putting sustainability at the core of the shopping festival. “We believe behavioral changes are essential to ensuring a sustainable future,” Tung explained. “Alibaba aims to drive positive change and find innovative ways to reduce carbon footprints.” Alibaba predicts that its green technologies will cut 30% of carbon emissions during 11.11 this year, compared to the 2020 event. Alibaba reported that it has launched the following initiatives to promote sustainability during 11.11:

• Dedicating a vertical to showcase energy-efficient and low-impact products.
• Partnering with brands to develop new products with lower carbon footprints and creating plastic-free recyclable packaging.
• Operating 60,000 pickup stations via Alibaba’s logistic network, Cainiao, to provide recycling services across China.

2. Alibaba Is Improving the Shopping Experience According to Alibaba, 290,000 merchants are joining its platforms for the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival 2021, offering more than 14 million products to meet consumers’ diversified needs. In order to provide a better shopping experience to its customers, Alibaba brought forward its first pre-sale period this year and is offering more promotions and deeper discounts. Zheng explained, “Tmall has served over 900 million annual active consumers. Catering to the multidimensional needs of consumers with an endless range of products and services remains our most important job.” For example, after learning that “Guochao” (Chinese heritage-themed products), blind box toys and trendy art toys are popular among Gen Z consumers, Tmall will include such products as “featured recommendations” during 11.11. Moreover, to improve the shopping experience for elderly consumers, Taobao launched a “senior mode” in October 2021, which offers larger font and icons, a simplified navigation system and voice-assisted shopping. 3. Eco-Friendly Goods Are Trending on Tmall Tmall noted that increasingly more consumers are buying eco-friendly products and showing preferences for low-carbon, energy-efficient and organic products. According to AliResearch (the research arm of Alibaba), more than 380 million consumers bought eco-friendly products in 2018, of which 90% were born after 1990. In order to encourage consumers to shop sustainably, Alibaba is launching a dedicated section to highlight eco-friendly brands and products on its platform. Furthermore, the company is offering ¥100 million ($15.6 million) in “green-shopping vouchers,” which can be used to purchase eco-friendly products. 4. Cross-Border Transactions Continue To Rise Due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, many Chinese consumers have turned to the online channel to shop international brands via cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Tmall Global. According to China’s General Administration of Customs, the import and export of cross-border e-commerce totaled ¥419.5 billion ($63.8 billion) in the first quarter of 2021, representing 46.5% year-over-year growth. Alibaba noticed that many Chinese consumers that have been shopping via cross-border e-commerce platforms since the beginning of the pandemic have stuck to this new behavior, making China a crucial market for international brands. “An average of 400 global brands have joined Tmall Global each month. There has been a shift in demand from well-known brands to more niche brands that offer innovative products,” noted Lyu. 5. Consumer Demand Increases for Homegrown Brands Alibaba revealed that Gen Z and millennial consumers in China are shifting their preferences toward domestic brands as they look for inspiration when shopping. “Founders of homegrown brands are fighting to satisfy local consumers’ diversified demands from different aspects, such as product design, packaging, marketing and service,” said Lyu. She suggested that global brands create local marketing strategies to target and engage with young shoppers, and launch products that meet local consumers’ tastes. On October 20, 2021—the first day of the first Double 11 pre-sale period—total sales of makeup removal oil from Chinese herbal skincare brand Zhuben reached ¥120 million ($18.8 million)—10 times the sales it achieved during Singles’ Day 2020, according to Alibaba. [caption id="attachment_135295" align="aligncenter" width="724"] Products from homegrown herbal skincare brand Zhuben
Source: Tmall [/caption]