China’s online retailers(零售商)are busy preparing for what has become the country’s annual online shopping festival on November 11.
November 11 is a date made up of four ones, and“double eleven”has always been considered a special day for single men and women in China. Five years ago the Internet retailer Alibaba began promoting it as a shopping festival, and it has now turned to be the country’s busiest day for online retailers and millions of shopping lovers.
JD. com is trying to attract more retailers by offering them free delivery service for a month. Alibaba itself has invited some 30, 000 offline stores to participate in the online shopping party. More than 20, 000 vendors on Alibaba’s sites——Tmall and Taobao are promising 50 percent discounts on the day. Shanghai- based Yhd. com, also called Yihaodian, a Chinese e-commerce company that is majority-owned by Wal-Mart Stores, is setting up a special sale of imported foods.
Last year Alibaba earned 19. 1 billionyuan in sales during the double eleven promotions. And a 100 billion yuanlogistics(物流)network was set up by Alibaba this May that aims to make 24-hour deliveries possible.
The major logistics player Shentong shipped more than 8 million items during“double eleven. ”Shentong has more than 150, 000 staff, and expects things to be even busier this year. Yang Jinghai, director of Human Resources of Shentong Express, says, “We have hired 30 percent more staff for double eleven, and we have couriers’(快递员)bonuses ready. ”
On double eleven China’s e-commerce sites receive more visits than the entire population of Brazil. It is believed that China will replace the US as the world’s top e-commerce market this year.