Taobao Maker Festival Showcases Entrepreneurial Innovation, Diversity and Playfulness

HANGZHOU, China, Sept. 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --  Taobao, China's largest mobile commerce destination, developed by Alibaba Group, today opened the third Taobao Maker Festival in Hangzhou, China. For the first time, the four-day festival is being held outdoors in the famous West Lake area. It is also the largest event in Taobao's history, housing more than 200 exhibitors who embody the Taobao values of innovation, diversity and playfulness.

First full-gear robotic machine in China displays in Taobao Maker Festival in Hangzhou.

Taobao shop owners showcase creative designs in a first-of-its-kind outdoor “Taobao Maker Festival” event in Hangzhou.

Taobao makers turn traditional Chinese art into trendy designs.

This year's festival features the most creative young entrepreneurs in the themed zones of innovation, anime, intangible cultural legacy, vintage, pets and gourmet. Visitors are able to participate in interactive activities, forest-themed concerts and try out the latest technologies. A night market is opened for the first time to extend the excitement into the evening.

According to the latest CBNData report, 77% of the independent designers on Taobao were aged 33 years or younger. Taobao Maker Festival, which receives a huge number of visitors every year, is the perfect stage for these young creators to experiment and commercialize their original ideas.

Chris Tung, Chief Marketing Officer of Alibaba Group, said, "Taobao has always been a pioneer in retail revolution. When we created Taobao 15 years ago, the idea was to give customers a joyful shopping experience by uncovering their favorite items from a wide range of choices. Today, logging onto Taobao is a daily activity for many of us and the term Taobao has come to represent online shopping. What is fueling this dynamic community is the creativity of our merchants. They introduce new products, develop innovative ways of marketing their ideas to customers, and reinvent traditional products to give them new lives. Taobao Maker Festival is an occasion to celebrate the spirit of our merchants and thank them for bringing to life endless ways to make shopping more enjoyable for our customers."

Growing with Taobao is the aspiration of Chinese consumers seeking better quality and stronger personality in the things they buy. In the fourth quarter of 2017 alone, 'original design' appeared 170 million times in keyword searches on Taobao.

Providing China's designers, creators and craftsmen with a platform to reach a wider audience, and the technology and consumer insights for them to reach their precise target customers has increasingly become Taobao's mission.

During this year's event, Taobao has invited 20 top designers in China to show their original works at the Fashion Show on West Lake's Snow-covered Bridge. The show will be live-streamed on mobile Taobao App and Youku, and audience members can buy what they see on the show.

Over the past 15 years, Taobao has grown side-by-side with the phenomenal rise of China's economy, becoming the country's largest platform for entrepreneurial innovation. To mark its 15 years of development, a Taobao Museum is set up during the festival to take visitors on a journey back in time.

Fan Jiang, President of Taobao Marketplace, said, "Innovation and 'maker spirit' are the most important qualities of Taobao. To attract like-minded merchants, we will on one hand empower merchants to innovate on our platform and on the other hand help them create business value. This year, innovation prizes will be awarded for the first time to recognize the achievements of the young entrepreneurs on our platform. We will continue to enable passionate and aspirational young entrepreneurs to thrive on Taobao."

About Taobao Marketplace

Launched in 2003, Taobao Marketplace (www.taobao.com) is social commerce platform that allows consumers to enjoy an engaging, personalized shopping experience, optimized by big-data analytics. Through highly relevant and engaging content and real-time updates from merchants, consumers can learn about products and new trends as well as interact with each other and their favorite merchants and brands on Taobao Marketplace. Merchants on Taobao Marketplace are primarily individuals and small businesses. According to Analysys, Taobao Marketplace was China's largest mobile commerce destination in terms of gross merchandise value in 2017. Taobao Marketplace is a business of Alibaba Group.

About Alibaba Group

Alibaba Group's mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere. The company aims to build the future infrastructure of commerce. It envisions that its customers will meet, work and live at Alibaba, and that it will be a company that lasts at least 102 years.

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