Double 11 Shopping Festival: 2018 event registers new sales record

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02:57

The annual Alibaba Double 11 shopping frenzy, or Singles' Day, has just come to a close in China. This year's sales volume once again beat the previous record. The festival has now become the single biggest shopping extravaganza in the world. CGTN's Xu Mengqi tells us more.

As the clock hit midnight, history is once again made in China. Online transactions hit a record of nearly 31 billion dollars during the 24-hour Double 11 shopping spree. The annual festival was initiated by e-commerce giant Alibaba in 2009. Daniel Zhang, the group's new CEO after Jack Ma, says Singles' Day has become a world event and a reflection on China's successful macro-economy.

DANIEL ZHANG CEO ALIBABA GROUP "Today, hundreds of millions of consumers participated in the Double 11 shopping festival, and although they differ in consumption capability, we can see a consumption upgrade across all different levels, because our big data-driven-platform can already offer them a personalized shopping experience."

XU MENGQI SHANGHAI "The CEO also points out another aspect of this year's remarkable Double 11 shopping festival. And that's the unprecedented integration of both online and offline retail channels."

In shopping malls across major Chinese cities, shoppers are snatching up online vouchers, which can be redeemed not only on the internet, but also in tens of thousands of brick and mortar shops as well.

DONG CHI, 'NEW RETAIL' DIRECTOR MARIE DALGAR COSMETICS "Last year, it was only our online shop that participated in the Double 11, but this year our offline shops did, too. We hope through these interactions customers can get to know our brand better."

JIANG XINJIE, SPOKESPERSON ALIBABA DOUBLE 11 SHOPPING FESTIVAL "An obvious trend this year is that for products such as cosmetics, or those related to healthcare, growth is evident, even eruptive."

Also setting a new record on this year's Singles' Day: more than a billion delivery orders. A huge test for any courier, but Alibaba's logistics affiliate Cainiao says it's fully prepared.

CHEN LIANGJUN, SPOKESPERSON CAINIAO SMART LOGISTICS NETWORK LTD. "Before the event, we analyzed where the overload points are likely to be and notified our partners so they can better allocate the resources, and we've employed a lot of internet of things and artificial intelligence technologies to further improve efficiency."

So while some consumers are still busy shopping, some say they have already gotten their parcels. Xu Mengqi, CGTN, Shanghai.