Alibaba kicks off 2019 11.11 global shopping festival

Alibaba Group Holding on Monday kicked off the 2019 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, that culminates on November 11, and taps a global supply chain to meet the growing demand of Chinese consumers for new brands and products.

The shopping festival will see participation from over 2,00,000 brands, while one million new products will be on offer and more than 500 million users are expected to participate in this year's festival about 100 million more than last year, the company said in a statement.

India will celebrate with the UC Shopping Fest, in association with Paytm, VMate and 9Apps, the it added.

More than 22,000 international brands from 78 countries and regions will participate in this year's 11.11 on Tmall Global, Alibaba's cross-border online marketplace, providing an expansive international product selection for consumers.

"Our goal is to stimulate consumption demand and support lifestyle upgrade in China through new brands and products," said Fan Jiang, president of Taobao and Tmall.

Alibaba also held a concurrent kickoff event in the northeastern city of Harbin, underscoring its focus on serving consumers and small businesses in China's less-developed markets.

"The success of our focus on less-developed markets in China is reflected in our new customer acquisition growth," said Alibaba Group CMO Chris Tung.

Logistics company Cainiao and its partners will work to convert 75,000 locations into permanent recycling stations, and express courier companies to pick up used cardboard boxes and wrapping. Consumers will be incentivised to recycle through rewards of "green energy" points on Ant Forest, which is an initiative by Ant Financial Services Group, an Alibaba affiliate.

"Given its scale, minimising environmental impact is essential and our technology will ensure it is a green 11.11 Global Shopping Festival," Jiang said.