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Alibaba steps up Singles’ Day promotion with group of live streamers persuading consumers to shop for low-priced goods on its platforms

  • A group of live streamers, including top online influencer Austin Li Jiaqi, helped launch Alibaba’s Singles’ Day campaign on Tuesday evening
  • Within an hour after presales started, Taobao and Tmall Group recorded a more than 200 per cent year-on-year increase in turnover for 1,300 brands

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Taobao and Tmall Group chief executive Trudy Dai Shan describes mainland China’s consumer market as “incredibly resilient with irrefutable growth opportunities” at a press conference on October 20, 2023. Photo: Handout
Ann Caoin ShanghaiandIris Dengin Shenzhen
Alibaba Group Holding’s Taobao and Tmall Group on Tuesday kicked off presales for its Singles’ Day promotion with a group of live streamers persuading consumers to buy from its platforms, a day after rival JD.com fired the first salvo in the world’s largest shopping festival.
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Among the live streamers who helped launch the Alibaba e-commerce unit’s campaign at 8pm on Tuesday via Taobao Live, a dozen of them – including top influencer Austin Li Jiaqi and actor-singer Allen Lin Yilun – each generated more than 100 million yuan (US$14 million) in total sales volume by midnight, according to data released by the company. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Within an hour after its presales started, Taobao and Tmall Group’s mainland platforms recorded a more than 200 per cent year-on-year increase in turnover for 1,300 brands, while sales of nearly 700 brands grew over five times, according to the company.

China’s top live streamer Li – also known as “Lipstick King” after he once sold 15,000 lipsticks within five minutes on Taobao Live – gave out random cash prizes of up to 100 yuan each to his online audience on top of the discounts already offered by Taobao and Tmall Group.

Austin Li Jiaqi, the most prominent face of mainland China’s live-streaming e-commerce sector, led a group of streamers who helped kick off this year’s Singles’ Day promotion of Alibaba Group Holding’s Taobao and Tmall Group. Photo: VCG/VCG via Getty Images
Austin Li Jiaqi, the most prominent face of mainland China’s live-streaming e-commerce sector, led a group of streamers who helped kick off this year’s Singles’ Day promotion of Alibaba Group Holding’s Taobao and Tmall Group. Photo: VCG/VCG via Getty Images
The group’s aggressive live-streaming strategy reflects the increased competition on Singles’ Day – also known as “11.11”, referring to the traditional 24-hour shopping extravaganza on November 11 – from major live-streaming e-commerce platforms that include ByteDance-owned Douyin, Kuaishou Technology and discount retailer PDD, which owns Pinduoduo.
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