AliExpress Kicks Off 2020 11.11 Global Shopping Festival By Breaking Down Cross-Border Barriers

Alibaba Group's global retail online marketplace invites consumers worldwide to "Shop Endless Wonders"

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Oct 28, 2020, 09:30 ET

HANGZHOU, China, Oct. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As retailers from around the world recover from the effects of a changed world, AliExpress today kicked off the 2020 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, rolling out enhancements and initiatives aimed to foster cross-border ties during the festival.

Alibaba Group’s global retail online marketplace invites consumers worldwide to “Shop Endless Wonders on AliExpress"

Themed "Shop Endless Wonders on AliExpress", this year's event will see three times more overseas merchants participating versus last year. Localized campaigns will offer fun shopping experiences and a variety of value-for-money choices for worldwide online shoppers from 00.00 PST November 11 to 24:00 PST November 12.

"11.11 has grown to be the biggest global shopping festival since its inception in 2008. To support our merchants and consumers in overcoming the challenges brought by COVID-19, we continue to harness technological innovations, valuable consumer insights and logistics infrastructure enhancements for a seamless e-commerce experience," said Wang Mingqiang, general manager of AliExpress. "Through digital innovation, AliExpress is committed to our vision of developing truly global e-commerce – empowering sellers all over to tap into overseas opportunities and continually delighting international audiences with more variety and value from anywhere in the world."

11.11 Global Shopping Festival gets bigger

In 2019, merchants from Spain, Italy, Turkey and Russia participated in the annual event for the first time and witnessed great success. SUIE, an Italian retailer known for its quality leather bags, saw its daily sales surge 125 times, with 60% of its sales coming from Russia. Saillakers, a renowned Turkish footwear brand, sold to festival shoppers in more than 20 countries and saw transactions in the first 24 hours of shopping surge to 25 times the brand's average daily sales.

This year, the number of international merchants outside of China participating in the Festival has increased more than threefold, and the number of products introduced at the annual event is five times 2019 figures.

While most of the merchants participating are SMEs, there are some international brands that will make their Festival debut, such as Oral B, Braun, Lego, Olay, who joined AliExpress this year to leverage the platform's digital assets and services, as well as outreach to consumers in more than 200 countries and regions.

Upgraded infrastructure to address perennial logistics pain points

To provide a reliable and efficient delivery experience for the Festival, AliExpress is working closely with Alibaba Group logistics arm Cainiao Smart Logistics Network and last-mile logistics partners to significantly shorten cross-border delivery times. Selected cross-border goods can now reach consumers in Spain and France in 10 working days, significantly shortening the delivery time by 30%.

Additionally, relying on overseas warehouses in Europe serving AliExpress merchants, selected products can be delivered in three days in Spain, France and Poland, and five to seven days in other European countries.

To expand product and service offerings, AliExpress launched the world's first warehouse for retail exports dedicated to bulky and heavy items in China, further reinforcing the platform's commitment to seamless global e-commerce. Based in Guangdong, the warehouse is a bid by AliExpress to take the lead in solving the problem of cross-border logistics of large commodities weighing over 30kg, closing the gap that has long been an unsolved issue for cross-border retail e-commerce logistics. Now, with just one click and at affordable shipping prices, heavy items like beds, bathtubs and motorcycles can be transported right to the doorstep of overseas retail shoppers in one seamless flow.

Breaking down cross-border barriers with "Shoppertainment"

In the face of increased online shopping traffic spurred by the pandemic, AliExpress doubles down on "Shoppertainment," a concept that blurs the lines between commerce, entertainment and everyday lifestyle, engaging consumers in a highly immersive approach.

In a bid to make the concept global, AliExpress recently pushed the "Shoppertainment" boundaries by announcing the world's first real-time livestreaming translation feature on an e-commerce platform. The feature supports simultaneous translation from Chinese to English, Russian, Spanish and French, as well as from English to Russian, Spanish and French. The feature is expected to substantially boost merchants' sales as a result of enhanced livestreaming sessions. On the AliExpress platform, the average conversion rate of livestreaming sessions with real-time translation is 300% higher than livestreaming sessions without. The innovation enables both content creators and merchants to react fast and to break language barriers, making the most out of cross-border live-streaming.

Localized marketing strategies to cater to the European market

Across Europe, AliExpress has also lined up a series of localized campaigns around the Festival theme, "Shop Endless Wonders on AliExpress."

In France, AliExpress will set up a "Wonderful Museum" in the heart of Paris from November 5 -11 to exhibit a wide range of assortments and products from the platform and show off interactive features. An aesthetic and visual experience will feature artistic collaborations created exclusively for the museum.

In Spain, a special grand lucky draw featuring attractive prizes ranging from car leasing, cruises and flight tickets to electronics and gift cards will be broadcast on national television. AliExpress Spain is also collaborating with local influencers to create 11.11 "Wonderlists" worth a total of 1111 euros, which will be given away on social media.

In Russia, AliExpress has introduced a highly engaging teaser campaign in collaboration with top-tier influencers to perform livestreaming sessions and call for new user registration.

In Poland, AliExpress is partnering with Lech Poznan, a top-tier professional football club, to increase AliExpress's brand awareness in the country.

Globally, shoppers can participate in "The One and Only" game by searching 1111 from the AliExpress App. Shoppers will receive chances to open "gift boxes" by completing tasks and win prizes every day. The chances that shoppers earned will not expire and can be used on 11.11 to win the grand prize that contains 11 items.

About AliExpress

Launched in 2010, AliExpress (www.aliexpress.com) is a global retail marketplace that enables consumers from around the world to buy directly from manufacturers and distributors primarily in China and is dedicated to becoming a platform for worldwide merchants to sell locally and globally. AliExpress operates in multiple languages including English, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and French.

SOURCE AliExpress