Tmall Global's Lynn Dong and Simon Property Group's David Mistretta joined a livestream on Black Friday. Photo credit: Alibaba Group
International brands celebrated the shopping bonanza Black Friday with an influx of livestreams on Alibaba Group’s livestreaming e-commerce site Taobao Live.
Over 20,000 global brands used the platform’s livestreaming tools to reach Chinese consumers on Black Friday, one of America’s largest shopping events taking place at the beginning of the Thanksgiving long weekend. Cyber Monday, the digital equivalent of Black Friday, takes place on the Monday after Thanksgiving.
New York’s Woodbury Common outlet mall took the opportunity on Black Friday to livestream exclusive sales for the second time in as many months.
Ahead of the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, the world’s largest online digital retail event, real estate investment trust Simon and Shop Premium Outlets, the owner of Woodbury Common, partnered with Alibaba’s cross-border marketplace Tmall Global to share 1,500 upmarket brands and over 100,000 outlet products in a two-hour livestreamed event.
“…A Chinese consumer can be virtually placed at the actual store location as if they are purchasing from the store [in person],” Greg Giraudi, President of SPO, told Alizila following the event prior to 11.11.
Brands and livestreamers alike see opportunity in this novel 24/7 interactive e-commerce format, where merchants and KOLs use livestreaming to market to their fans and customers.
From the start of 11.11’s presales to the end of the sales period, more than 300 million consumers watched livestreaming sessions hosted on Taobao Live. During the entire sales period, 62 influencer and merchant-run livestreaming channels surpassed RMB100 million ($13.9 million) in gross merchandise value (GMV), and 632 influencer and merchant-run livestreaming channels surpassed RMB10 million in GMV.
Alibaba’s platforms have recorded an uptick in streaming hosts.
During this year’s 11.11, the largest retail event worldwide, Taobao Live recorded 684% growth in presale volumes from new hosts compared with last year’s 11.11 in the first four hours of presales.
