Alibaba Group Holding is gearing up for its annual Singles’ Day shopping festival on major online marketplaces Taobao and Tmall, with the company expecting a record one million global brands to take part this year.
Pre-sales for the event open on Thursday, followed by the formal sale next Tuesday. The company projects more than 70 million products to feature, also a record for the festival.
Created by Alibaba in 2009, Singles’ Day has grown into the world’s largest online shopping festival. Also known as Double 11, it tapped into a trend among young single people to buy gifts for themselves on November 11, a date chosen for its four ones.
