Global Brands Leveraging Tmall 6.18 Shopping Festival To Tap China Consumption Rebound

HANGZHOU, China, June 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Tmall, Alibaba's premier B2C e-commerce platform, has kicked off its 6.18 Mid-Year Shopping Festival to stimulate China's consumption engine and help global brands capture new post-Covid consumer behaviors and trends.

Brands participating in this monthlong annual campaign doubled from last year. Following kickoff, GMV in the first ten hours was 50% higher over the same period last year during the campaign. Specifically, growth has come from doubling of sales in categories such as cosmetics, home appliances, computer notebooks and electric cars.

"Online consumption has seen a post-pandemic revival since March, and the sales rebound that we have observed on Taobao and Tmall has been very encouraging," said Liu Bo, vice president of Alibaba Group and general manager of Tmall and Taobao marketing and operations.

The global pandemic stalled the world's economy and dampened China's consumption. But recent figures show an economy on the mend, and consumption is expected to pick up on bullishness about China's prospects, according to a report from research firm McKinsey.

Around-the-World Shopping Experience

Global travel restrictions has made Tmall Global the principal gateway for global brands to access the China market. More than 25,000 brands from 92 countries and regions offering over 400,000 new products are participating this year. The number of new brands participating from Tmall Global increased by 64% year-over-year.

Close to 180 luxury brands are participating this year, nearly double the amount from 2019 11.11 Global Shopping Festival. Burberry, Montblanc, Cartier and Michael Kors are offering customized special edition items co-created with Tmall just for 6.18. Coach, MCM and Theory are participating in the campaign for the first time, and all recently launched outlets on Tmall Luxury Soho.

Apple is offering special promotions on a range of products, including the new iPhone 11, exclusively through its flagship store on Tmall. GMV of iPhone sales surpassed RMB 500 million within the first five hours of the event.

Imported fresh food and other signature delicacies from Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Chile and Russia will be offered for the first time via their country flagship stores on Tmall. The Netherlands and Hokkaido, Japan are scheduled to open their respective country flagship stores in June.

Virtual Shopping Using Livestreaming and 3D

This year, Taobao Live is welcoming over 300 celebrities and 600 brand executives to engage directly with consumers in real time. Over 10,000 physical retail stores will also be livestreaming to promote their products. Taobao Special Offer Edition will also roll out livestreaming functions during 6.18, enabling manufacturers to promote consumer-to-manufacturer (C2M) products and driving consumer engagement.

Livestreaming played a vital role for many brands during the height of the outbreak. The overall sales result generated by liverstreaming has already increased significantly from last year. The GMV generated through Taobao Live hit RMB 5.1 billion in the first day. More than 1,000 brands, merchants and livestreamers achieved GMV worth RMB 10 million.

Tmall and over 100 furninture sellers, such as IKEA, Kohler,KUKA, QuanU and Linshimuye, will launch a 3D shopping feature, allowing customers to "see" how the furniture fits into their homes.