VR, Fashions Shows & Katy Perry: Alibaba to make this year's 11.11 its biggest yet

London - Chances are you have heard of ‘Black Friday’ - the promotional, discounting frenzy which follows on from the US holiday Thanksgiving. Once seen as one of the biggest shopping days of the year, Alibaba Group - the world’s largest e-commerce company - is set to make its own online shopping festival, known as Singles’ Day, the shopping event of the year.

In fact, Alibaba has already begun its count down to Singles’ Day, which takes place annually on November 11. This year Alibaba has promised consumers - as well as its investors - its biggest event yet, complete with fashion shows, virtual reality shopping and US singer Katy Perry as the company aims to turn its 24-hour online sale into a global phenomenon. Last year’s shopping festival generated sales of over 14 billion US dollars, as the shopping festival has surpassed sales of both the US ‘Black Friday’ and ‘Cyber Monday’ promotional events combined.

Alibaba Group expands sales and activities for this year's shopping festival Singles' Day

Alibaba Group hosted a kick off ceremony for Singles’ Day on Thursday in Hong Kong, where the group’s CEO, Daniel Zhang proclaimed this year’s event to be “the most global 11.11 shopping festival ever.” The event “has become the global retail benchmark over the past seven years,” said Zhang in a statement, “and we have raised the bar again this year to redefine the retail experience for consumers together with our merchants from around the world.”

This year’s shopping festival is said to include a special performance from Katy Perry, virtual reality shopping, in addition to a live-stream fashion show in Shanghai, which will include a direct buy option to let viewers pre-order items as soon as they appear on the catwalk. Alibaba Group, led by billionaire entrepreneur Jack Ma, also aims to expand Singles’ Day outside of China to Hong King and Taiwan as the group aims to appeal to a wider market and reduce its reliance on China, where a slowdown in economical growth could affect its earnings.

Alibaba Group has partnered with a number of international brands for this year’s event once more, including fashion retailers Zara, Nike and Uniqlo as well as electronic saints like Samsun and Bose and beauty labels such as L’Oreal and Estee Lauder. In addition, the company has also tapped a series of new brands, who will be participating for the first time, including Burberry, Apple and Guerlain.

In the three weeks running up to the event Alibaba, together with its vendors, will also host a number of digital promotions and brand-building campaigns on its Tmall.com and Taobao Marketplace. “11.11 has evolved far beyond a 24-hour sales event,” added Zhang. “From today through Nov. 11, consumers will discover, explore, play, watch, comment, share, recommend and shop across our entire ecosystem with our merchants both online and offline.”

Photos: Aliababa Group