What Are The Highlights Of This Year'S Double 11?

This year

Sales are expected to grow by 40% over the previous year to $20 billion.

More importantly, from VR, AR

To entertainment and personalized experience, double 11 is expected to change the way people shop.

Forbes said that this year's double 11 will mark the beginning of the future retail mode.

The following is the full text of the article:

The "double 11" annual online shopping Carnival has entered countdown.

Since the start of the double 11 Shopping Festival 7 years ago, it has become the largest shopping day in the world.

Last year, sales of Ali double 11 Shopping Festival reached $14 billion, surpassing the total online sales of Thanksgiving, black Friday and online shopping Monday.

This year's double 11 will be different. Ali wants to make it a global shopping festival.

Ali has launched a series of preheating activities, including the 8 hour "see buy" fashion show live in Shanghai.

Anything consumers can see on the T stage can be ordered online in real time.

But the most exciting thing about this year's double 11 is that it may change the way people shop.

Here are some highlights of this year's double 11:

Virtual reality shopping

Virtual reality (VR) shopping is no longer only in science fiction movies.

Ali will debut the Buy+ shopping experience on the day of the festival.

It takes only 15 cents for a consumer to buy a CardboardVR headset. After putting the smart machine on the headset, it can browse a range of items from handbags, shoes to underwear.

Consumers can also use virtual models to show the appearance of costumes and accessories on the T stage.

According to a video released by Ali, a Chinese shopper found himself in New York Times Square after wearing VR headgear. Then he took a taxi to Messi department store where salesmen greeted him.

After wandering for a while, he bought a handbag for his girlfriend.

Buy+ integrated Alipay.

Users can pay at the bottom of their heads, so they do not need to take out equipment to settle accounts.

For retailers without physical stores in China, such as Messi department store, this may be a major change, and dreams will come true.

Augmented reality O2O

If you think VR shopping is not stimulating enough, Ali is also developing a "Pokemon GO" style AR game, which can turn online traffic into physical store traffic.

The electricity supplier is no longer limited to the Internet.

Many online activities can be pformed into physical store shopping.

O2O (online to offline) is a hot term in China.

For example, KFC sold 80 thousand fried chicken nuggets a day in Ali Tmall mall.

Consumers can place their orders on Tmall and then get to the local KFC store.

In the west, Groupon is the best example of O2O.

So what does this have to do with the game of Pokemon GO? Pokemon GO is a game that captures virtual elves in real environments.

Let's wait and see.

Ali wants to build his own version of Pokemon GO as "the most popular hand tour so far".

Kentucky Fried Chicken, Starbucks and other enterprises are leading cooperation with ALI.

entertainment

Ali will integrate the entertainment content into the electricity supplier in the double 11 this year.

Ali wants to make shopping more fun, blurring the boundaries between business and entertainment.

Ali will also hold a double 11 party, and invited American pop star Katyy Perry (KatyPerry) and basketball star Kobe to participate, and will interact with domestic and international celebrities.

While watching the program, consumers can shake their phones to win prizes and buy preferential products only when they are broadcast.

Last year, more than 100 million people watched the last few hours of TV broadcast before the double 11. More people are expected to watch the party this year.

Personalized experience

Ma once said that Ali is no longer an electric company, but a data company.

Considering Ali's data of hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers, this may not be false.

By digging out data on its business, social sharing, payment and location services, Ali can help retailers create personalized experiences for every consumer.

This is what Ali plans to do on the double 11.

This creates a new opportunity for brands to interact with their users.

Retailers can customize their stores, merchandise and marketing content, so that each consumer will see personalized search results and merchandise recommendation when he opens Tmall apps on his cell phone.

Apple, Procter & Gamble, L'OREAL, Estee Lauder, Hao Shi and many other international giants will participate in the double 11 Shopping Festival this year.

In addition to big companies, tens of thousands of small brands from the United States, Europe, Japan, Korea and Australia will also take part in the event.

Market research firm eMarketer predicts that double 11 sales will reach $20 billion this year, an increase of 40% over the same period last year.