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

Alibaba

Ann Caoin ShanghaiandIris Dengin Shenzhen

Published: 9:00pm, 25 Oct 2023

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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.

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

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.

Li, who attracts an online audience of 20 million on average for each streaming session, recorded more than 100 million viewers within about 30 minutes after presales started, according to Taobao Live data.

“Li Jiaqi can better establish price awareness for consumers on the [Alibaba] platform, helping them meet their shopping needs in the current economic cycle,” Bailian Consulting founder Zhuang Shuai said, referring to improved consumption spending on the mainland.

The solid presales push by Li, 31, on Taobao Live comes more than a month after he made a tearful apology for ridiculing people who cannot afford to buy his products during a show on September 10.

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Jack Ma goes head to head with employees for Alibaba’s Singles’ Day

Before launching the firm’s Singles’ Day promotion, Taobao and Tmall Group chief executive Trudy Dai Shan said at a press conference last Friday that the company is “partnering with brands and merchants to provide consumers with even better deals and consumption experiences”.

The group is offering more than 80 million products at their lowest prices on the 15th year of Singles’ Day since Alibaba created the online shopping extravaganza in 2009.

Rival e-commerce giant JD.com kicked off its Singles’ Day campaign this year a day ahead of Alibaba’s e-commerce unit. The Beijing-based company eschewed the traditional presales period, making its vast inventory of over 800 million products available for immediate purchase.

User orders and overall transaction volume were up over four times on last year’s figures within 10 minutes of its campaign’s 8pm start on Monday, according to JD.com.

Alibaba, JD.com roll out low-price strategies for Singles’ Day amid tight economy

Meanwhile, Hong Kong terrestrial broadcasting firm Television Broadcasts (TVB) joined Taobao and Tmall Group’s Singles’ Day promotion for the first time on Tuesday.

Hong Kong actors Samantha Ko Hoi-ling, Kenneth Ma Kwok-ming and Yoyo Chen Chi-yiu introduced products on offer in Mandarin. TVB made its streaming debut on Taobao Live in March.

Tech entrepreneur-turned-live-streamer Luo Yonghao, who was a top influencer at Douyin before joining Taobao Live last year, on Tuesday promoted a charter cruise for a five-day holiday worth a whopping 20 million yuan.

More than 500,000 live streamers who started their career on other live-streaming platforms have joined Taobao Live over the past year, according to a report by Chinese media outlet Jiemian on Wednesday.

Alibaba prepares for Singles’ Day price war as sales slow in China

At the conclusion of Singles’ Day last year, both Alibaba and JD.com for the first time withheld announcements of their gross merchandise volume (GMV), or final sales tally, from the annual online and offline shopping festival amid Covid-19 control measures nationwide and macroeconomic headwinds during that period.

Still, Alibaba said at the time that its 14th annual 11.11 campaign “delivered results in line with last year’s GMV performance”.

JD.com, by comparison, said it had set a “record-breaking” 11-day Singles’ Day campaign, which started on October 31 last year.

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