With discounts galore and Taylor Swift, Alibaba eyes record Singles' Day

E-commerce giant Alibaba will kick off it's 24-hour shopping mega-event on Monday and is hoping to achieve another record 'Singles' Day' sales this year.

The shopping festival, also known as Double 11, is referred as Singles' Day because its date, 11/11 (November 11) consists of four 'ones', representing four singles.

The event, which began in 2009 with a total of USD 7.8 million in GMV, raked in a record USD 30.8 billion in GMV in 2018.

More than 22,000 international brands from over 78 countries and regions will participate in this year's 11.11 on Tmall Global, Alibaba's dedicated channel for cross-border e-commerce.

"This year's Singles' Day will have many many new records ," Alvin Liu, General Manager Tmall Global Import Export said.

Liu noted that the first hour of 11.11 pre-sales for Tmall Global saw 113 per cent year-on-year rise in transactions and broke last year's sales record in just 1 hour 47 minutes on first day of pre-sales.

The 11.11 event serves as a gateway to China for international brands and merchants looking to tap into China's market and purchasing power of Chinese consumers, Alibaba said.

Daraz Group, owned by Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd, first brought 11.11 to South Asia last year and is gearing up again with celebrations in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Nepal.

India will celebrate 11.11 with the UC Shopping Festival in association with Paytm, VMate and 9Apps.

The number of new products on offer stand at 1 million and 250 leading international brands will debut with more than 240 '11.11-themed' special edition products, according to Alibaba.

The 11.11 Global Shopping Festival Gala Celebration will have performance by Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and a host of other international and local celebrities.