Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding has vowed to support merchants with the necessary tools to help them succeed in its 11.11 global shopping festival, which was officially launched yesterday.
It is also sharpening its focus on high-value spenders and loyalty customers to boost spending amid the economic headwinds and China's zero Covid-19 policy. In the quarter that ended in June, Alibaba reported flat quarterly revenue growth for the first time in its history.
"11.11 this year will have the most diverse range of products in the event's history, with 17 million products available to more than one billion annual active consumers on our platforms in China, thanks to the support of our brands and merchants from around the world," said Chui Xue, president of the Industry Development and Operation Center of Taobao and Tmall under Alibaba.
Yesterday, the company launched the 14th edition of its 11.11 shopping festival, which features more than 29,000 brands.
According to the firm, merchants will be equipped with tools and solutions to grow their brand loyalty membership programmes to help them succeed during and beyond 11.11.
On Tmall, which serves as a business-to-consumer online retail platform, there are more than 40 brands that have loyalty membership programmes that surpassed 10 million members and 600 brands that have loyalty member programmes with over 1 million members.
"We will introduce technology and business innovations while enhancing supply-demand matching and loyalty membership management, to support our brand and merchant partners," said Mr Xue.
"Ultimately, we aim to turn customer assets into the most important driving force for merchants' long-term business growth."
Alibaba will support merchants in the area of loyalty member recruitment, along with other initiatives, to promote the broader use of membership systems as a tool to attract, engage and retain consumers by merchants on its platforms, he said.
Livestreaming continues to be an effective channel for consumer engagement, and Alibaba will support merchants with the capability to host self-run livestreaming sessions during 11.11 through Taobao Live.
New products will be introduced this 11.11, including fashion and accessories from top luxury brands Moncler and Ferrari that opened Tmall flagship stores in the past month, Mr Xue said.
Many brands will also showcase the fruits of their product innovation incubated based on insights from the Tmall Innovation Center (TMIC).
Alibaba will also provide merchants with access to business intelligence tools and financial support. For example, a marketing analysis tool will be made available to all merchants on consumer-to-consumer online marketplace Taobao and Tmall for the first time during this 11.11 to guide merchants' real-time business decision-making.
Tmall and Taobao will provide faster payment transfers for merchants to ease their liquidity during 11.11, too, halving the account receivable cycle to seven days on average for certain products, he said.
