No, we’re not talking about Christmas (yet!). We’re talking about a day where you can finally splurge your money on heavily discounted items you’ve been meaning to buy for the longest time.

Yes, that’s right: the 11.11 grand sale is fast approaching.

While there are many e-commerce sites out there that provide attractive offers, there is none bigger than Alibaba’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival 2021.

Not only will the Chinese e-commerce platform be throwing their largest 11.11 sale ever this year, they will also be focusing on issues that really matter: sustainability and social good.

What’s new this year?

During the APAC 11.11 Press Conference where the 13th 11.11 Global Shopping Festival was announced on 27 October, Chris Tung, Chief Marketing Officer of Alibaba Group, revealed that this year’s Festival is set to be Alibaba Group’s biggest one yet.

On top of that, the Festival’s focus on inclusivity and sustainability this year will make it an even more meaningful one for all, with the Festival aiming to play a vital and influential role in encouraging sustainable action and promoting inclusivity in society.

Here are some of the initiatives that Alibaba Group will be introducing at this year’s Festival:

1) More brands and even more deals

Taobao launced a Senior Mode for their app this year. (Image credit: Inside Retail Asia)

Tung revealed that this year, the Festival will feature more than 290,000 participating brands from all around the world, the highest in the Festival’s history. Shoppers can also expect more than 14 million deals and more innovative features from the brands.

“This is an opportunity for more consumers to be engaged with more brands all over the world,” he said during the press conference.

This year, there will also be starting pre-sale orders earlier. (Image credit: Alibaba Group)

Liqing Zheng, Head of Marketing for this year’s Festival, highlighted the importance of meeting the evolving needs of the more than 900 million-strong consumer base and the goal of creating more interactive and impactful retail experiences with each Festival.

She also shed light on the preparations leading up to this year’s celebrations, which includes some helpful features:

• Starting pre-sale orders earlier: This year’s 11.11 will carry on last year’s arrangement of having two sales windows for consumers to enjoy double the fun. In addition, the pre-sale window this year opened four hours earlier, at 8pm BJT, instead of the traditional midnight so customers didn’t have to stay up as late to start shopping.
• Introducing bigger discounts and deals: This year’s Festival includes even more cross-store rebates to enable customers to enjoy deeper discounts while bundling purchases from multiple stores.
• Debuting social sharing features: Understanding that consumers want to share their 11.11 purchases as well as get inspiration from others on good deals, Alibaba has introduced a feature that allows them to share their shopping cart on their social networks. The feature went live on 27 October.
• Launching ‘Senior Mode’ on Taobao app: As part of the focus this year on inclusivity, the Taobao app has launched a “senior mode” in October ahead of 11.11 for senior citizens shopping on the platform. Features include larger font and icons, simplified navigation and voice-assisted technology.
• Curating products for Gen Z consumers: With Gen Z shoppers becoming more and more active shoppers, Tmall is offering recommendations of trending products that appeal to them, such as Chinese heritage-themed goods, art toys and blind boxes.

2) Saving the environment

Sustainability is the main focus for Alibaba Group this year. (Image credit: Alibaba Group)

In addition to offering more deals for shoppers, Tung said Alibaba Group is laser focused on making this year’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival as environmentally friendly as possible through several initiatives.

According to Tung, Alibaba has been focused on green initiatives since the 618 Mid-Year Shopping Festival this year, and the company is using the 11.11 sale as a huge opportunity to innovate in finding ways to reduce carbon footprint.

• Green product vertical: For the very first time, Tmall is featuring a dedicated vertical to showcase energy-efficient and low-impact products, as well as issuing RMB100 million (RM65 million) worth of “green” vouchers to incentivise shopping decisions that contribute to an environmentally friendly lifestyle.
• Collaborations for lower-carbon footprints: Alibaba is cooperating with brand partners this year to develop new products with lower carbon footprints and create plastic-free, recyclable packaging.
• Package recycling: Alibaba’s logistics arm, Cainiao Network, has rolled out more than 60,000 package collection and recycling stations across China and implemented 10,000 Cainiao Post Stations where users can reuse parcel packaging.

3) Creating social good with ‘Goods for Good’

The 'Goods for Good' program has been helping the needy since 2006. (Image credit: IF World Design Guide)

Launched in 2006, Alibaba’s ‘Goods for Good’ program raises funds for good causes by enabling customers to donate a portion of the sales profit from their purchases to their chosen charitable organisation or project.

According to Alibaba Group, the ‘Goods for Good’ program has helped people more than 43 million times in the past 15 years.

Some of its noticeable projects include providing more than three million times of medical support, installing water purification systems in more than 200 rural schools, and providing nearly half a million free meals to elderly citizens living alone across the country.

4) Stronger support system for brands and partners

As Alibaba’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival 2021 is now an annual marquee shopping event and global phenomenon, the company is dedicated to providing a stronger support system for their brands and partners to achieve more operational efficiencies.

Anita Lv, General Manager of Tmall Global, shared that Tmall Global is putting in efforts to adopt cross-border digital infrastructure to overcome supply chain challenges as well as strengthening support for international brands and partners to help them meet the increasingly diversified demands for imported products by Chinese consumers.

Some of Tmall Global’s initiatives include:

• Mature end-to-end fulfilment capabilities: With a massive 20,000-square-meter bonded warehouse in China, Tmall Global possesses mature fulfilment capabilities covering the entire supply management and logistics chain, from cross-border to China domestic logistics.
• Different solutions for different businesses: For overseas brands that choose not to operate their own flagship stores, Tmall Global offers a full-service retail solution where it takes care of all retail operations for brands as they explore the China market.
• “New Discovery” feature to better support overseas brands: Tmall Global is building its own KOC (Key Opinion Consumer) capabilities to help Chinese consumers learn about new products from overseas brands through short video content in its “New Discovery” feature.

With Alibaba’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival 2021 gearing up to be the year’s biggest online sale, you can be sure that there are plenty of things to see and buy on their platforms.

So, head on over to Taobao and Tmall this 11.11 to enjoy a greater shopping experience, thanks to their new innovations.

"We believe that behavioral change is essential to ensuring a sustainable future. Which is why as the creator and leader of the 11.11 festival, Alibaba aims to play an important role in driving those positive changes," said Tung.