GEC NEWS WIREAliExpress, a global retail online marketplace under Alibaba Group, has wrapped up its 48-hour 11.11 Global Shopping Festival of 2019. With buyers from over 200 countries, including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, joining the festival this year, the transaction amount in the first 13 minutes of the shopping spree exceeded the total transaction in the first hour in 2018.
By the 19th hour, the transaction amount surpassed the total 48-hour transaction last year. Russia, Spain, United States, France and Poland were the top-spending markets with strong transactions from both the UAE and Saudi Arabia, such as a Saudi buyer ordering a 3D printer valued at $3,000. The most purchased product categories among global consumers were cellphones and telecommunications, consumer electronics, home and garden, automobiles and motorcycles, computer and office.
This year also marks the beginning of overseas local merchants’ participation in AliExpress’ 11.11 event. Sellers from Russia, Spain, Italy and Turkey as well as the GCC region experienced the passion of consumers from the other side of the globe as they sold their products to 127 countries and regions.
Among the top selling categories from the UAE and Saudi Arabian market included: Home and Garden, Automobiles and Motorcycles, Consumer Electronics, Cellphones and Telecommunications, Sports and Entertainment, Women’s Clothing, Computer and Office, Toys and Hobbies, Jewellery and Accessories; Home Appliances and Mother and Kids.
AliExpress’ investment in enhancing its platform and establishing the infrastructure in its overseas markets is a growth accelerator for global sellers.
AliExpress, together with Cainiao, Alibaba’s logistic arm, and Ant Financial, is collaborating with international and local logistics partners and payment providers to make it easier for merchants to sell and consumers to buy through the platform. For example, AliExpress and Cainiao partnered with Turkish Post to launch a dedicated Turkey-Russia service, shortening the average delivery speed from 35 days to 10 days.
As Alibaba group expands into global markets, AliExpress spreads the phenomenon of shoppertainment to global consumers, changing the way of how people shop by offering them content and entertainment to inform and engage them as they browse and buy.
During the 48-hour festival this year, AliExpress invited over 3,500 Key Online Influencers and bloggers from the Middle East, Russia, Italy, Korea, Brazil, Spain, Poland to promote sellers and products on their social media accounts. With the total number of KOLs’ followers exceeding 100 million, AliExpress had potentially access to over 10% of the population in these key markets. AliExpress also has hosted more than 1,000 live streams on its platform, bringing a new shopping experience to consumers as well as new job opportunities.
“We are happy to see consumers from all over the world, especially from the UAE and Saudi Arabia, collecting their desired items in this year’s 11.11,” said Wang Mingqiang, General Manager of AliExpress, “Participation from overseas local merchants in the region reflects AliExpress’ goal to incorporate more international sellers onto our platform, in order to offer more product varieties and ultimately an enhanced experience to our consumers.”
Highlights from the 2019 11.11 global shopping festival:
- A bride-to-be in Australia purchased an haute couture wedding dress for $1,500.
- A buyer from Saudi Arabia ordered a 3D printer for $3,000.
- A French consumer bought a piece of outdoor rattan furniture for $5,000.
- A music fan from Korea spent $3,300 on an audio amplifier.
- A Japanese buyer got a leather sofa for $2,000.
