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

Alibaba Group Holding's Taobao and Tmall Group initiated their Singles' Day promotion with a team of live streamers encouraging consumers to shop on their platforms. This move came a day after their competitor, JD. com, launched their own campaign for the world's largest shopping festival. Among the live streamers who assisted in the launch of Alibaba's campaign were top influencer Austin Li Jiaqi and actor-singer Allen Lin Yilun. Each of them generated more than 100 million yuan (US$14 million) in total sales volume by midnight.

Within an hour of the presales commencement, Taobao and Tmall Group's mainland platforms recorded a more than 200 per cent year-on-year increase in turnover for 1,300 brands. Sales of nearly 700 brands grew over five times. China's top live streamer Li, also known as 'Lipstick King' for his record of selling 15,000 lipsticks within five minutes on Taobao Live, gave out random cash prizes to his online audience in addition to the discounts already offered by Taobao and Tmall Group.

The group's aggressive live-streaming strategy is a reflection of the increased competition on Singles' Day, also known as '11. 11', a traditional 24-hour shopping extravaganza on November 11. Major live-streaming e-commerce platforms that include ByteDance-owned Douyin, Kuaishou Technology, and discount retailer PDD, which owns Pinduoduo, are also part of this competition. 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.