Alibaba 11.11 Shopping Festival to last for 24 days

Zhang Yong, CEO of Alibaba Group announces the launching of 2016 Tmall 11.11 Global Shopping Festival on Oct 20 in Hong Kong. [Photo/VCG]

China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has announced that the online 11.11 shopping festival this year will last for 24 days, not just the usual 24 hours, starting from October 21 and ending on November 13.

Since the 11.11 shopping festival first began in 2009 on Tmall, the website for online retail operated by Alibaba, it's developed into a global carnival with tens of thousands retailers and millions of buyers taking part.

In 2015, it had an estimated turnover of more than 91.2 billion yuan (USD 13.5 billion) breaking several world records for one-day sales.

"It is far more than a shopping spree, it is the start of a new retailing era." Zhang Yong, CEO of Alibaba Group told The Paper.

After Alibaba firstly brought together shopping and entertainment last year with enormous success, this year's 11.11 will be more entertainment-focused. According to Alibaba, interactions between sellers and buyers, will be augmented with webcast and VR techniques as part of the festival.

In addition to the move towards entertainment, this year's 11.11 will also be experienced across a much wider sales areas, with the inclusion of Hong Kong and Taiwan.

"From last year's buying from the world, to this year's selling to the world, our first try in Hong Kong and Taiwan is very important." says Zhang.

To facilitate the selling of goods to the world, Alibaba has upgraded its Alipay payment system to support "Global Payment", allowing consumers to pay in 18 currencies, such as the dollar, pound, euro and yen.

In the wake of Hong Kong and Taiwan, big online spenders, in Southeast Asia will soon be able to experience the obsessive 'Chop-off hands' Tmall shopping phenomenon.