Editor's note: Rachana Gupta is an Indian blogger, poet and a freelance writer based in Shanghai. The article reflects the author's views, and not necessarily those of CGTN.

Alibaba began its Double 11 shopping festival on November 11, 2009, to capitalize on China's Singles' Day holiday. The e-commerce platform offered discounts on purchases made during a 24-hour period. Over the years, the shopping event — which started with a mere 27 brands participating — has become a Chinese phenomenon with the sales figures smashing new records every year.

The 24-hour online shopping frenzy has become the world's biggest internet retail festival, sprinting ahead of its U.S. equivalents of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Last year, Alibaba partnered with almost 180,000 brands from around 200 countries and hit a whopping 30.8 billion U.S. dollars in total sales. This year, it topped this to set a new e-commerce record with 38.3 billion U.S. dollars in sales.

Alibaba's Double 11 has garnered attention worldwide by generating eye-popping numbers year after year. The company also invites celebrities to participate and holds a "See now; Buy now" fashion show as part of its Double 11 Gala to boost the event's popularity.

Moving forward, Alibaba has set its eyes further afield. Its global platforms, namely Aliexpress and Lazada, already celebrate Double 11 along with Taobao and Tmall. Last year, Lazada broadcast the Double 11 Gala in Thailand and Malaysia.

So far the strategy of promoting Double 11 abroad seems to be paying off, with an increasing number of people joining the mass shopping spree. But, Alibaba does face challenges including creating a logistics system robust enough to ensure efficient and timely delivery.

In 2017, the group announced its plan to invest 14.2 billion U.S. dollars over the next five years to build a logistics network globally. As part of this strategy, Alibaba's logistics arm Cainiao last year announced its intention of establishing several bases worldwide to efficiently deliver goods within 72 hours of order placement. In March this year, Alibaba bought a 14 percent stake in shipping firm STO Express through a 693-million-U.S.-dollar deal.

Alibaba must also develop a payment system for its global customers. In August this year, Ant Financial's Alipay had teamed up with Adyen, a Netherlands-based global payment company, to provide its shoppers from around the world the ability to choose their preferred payment option on all e-commerce platforms of Alibaba Group, namely Taobao, Tmall, AliExpress and Alibaba.com.

"We want to make Singles' Day a more global event," Daniel Zhang, Alibaba Group's CEO, stated back in 2017. Given Alibaba's vast pool of resources and track record of success, it looks as though Double 11 will be more than just a domestic Chinese shopping event.

Singles' Day became a trend in China in 1993 after students of Nanjing University decided to celebrate their singledom on the 11th of November each year by buying gifts for themselves.

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