Double 11: Record-breaking sales expected

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Sunday brings China's largest online shopping event of the year -- Double-11. Are businesses prepared for the huge number of orders? David Deen tells us what's in store.

Stepping up production. Stocking up merchandise.

Businesses across China have been busy getting ready for the Singles' Day Sale, the year's biggest online sale.

Some have started preparing months in advance.

ONLINE RETAILER "We've been stocking up since September. We've managed to stock up more than 10 thousand pieces of products since then. Our employees in departments such as marketing have been working overtime."

ONLINE RETAILER "We've started stocking up since July, and the factories have also sped up their production to prepare for Singles' Day."

More than 1.5 billion pieces of packages were shipped out during the five days after last year's Singles Day. China's State Post Bureau has forecasted around 1.9 billion packages are going to be shipped between 11th and 16th of November. So what new things are going to be in those boxes? Economic professor Liu Chunsheng weighs in.

PROF. LIU CHUNSHENG CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF FINANCE AND ECONOMICS "There is a trend of online-offline integration this year, driven by 'new retailing' companies such as Hema Fresh and Seven Fresh. This is going to drive up the sale. On the other hand, the CIIE has opened Chinese consumers' eye to overseas products, so more imported products are going to be sold."

2018 marks the tenth year of the Singles' Day Sale. Liu says the big sale has pushed change in China's e-commerce industry, for the better.

PROF. LIU CHUNSHENG CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF FINANCE AND ECONOMICS "The sale has pushed the e-commerce companies to enhance their technology to accommodate the large volume of orders, as well as the delivery companies to improve their technique to handle the packages."

Alibaba's online market Tmall made a jaw dropping sale of 168.2 billion yuan on Singles' Day last year. Professor Liu says the record is expected to be broken, once again, this year. David Deen, CGTN.