10 things to know about Alibaba’s Singles’ Day

In an opinion piece for Forbes, Frank Lavin, CEO of Export Now, shares his thoughts on Alibaba’s mega shopping event taking place this Friday:

1. Singles’ Day is not just the largest e-commerce shopping day in China — it is the largest in the world.

2. Alibaba’s China retail marketplaces boast some 440 million active users.

3. This year’s Singles Day has been rebranded ‘The 11/11 Global Shopping Festival‘ and starts an entire 30 days early with promotions and announcements.

4. The 11/11 sale is not just a way to connect consumers and brands, it is a way to connect China to the world.

5. Alibaba has hired Hollywood producer David Hill, best known for producing the Oscars and the Super Bowl, to produce a four-hour nationally televised gala for the evening of November 10 culminating in a midnight kick-off.

6. Katy Perry, Kobe Bryant, Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich) and other celebrities will bringing their star power to the gala.

7. Alibaba is featuring an augmented reality game to allow people to chase black cats (the Tmall mascot), similar to Pokémon GO.

8. About 60 to 70 percent of all sales on 11/11 is expected to be through mobile.

9. In 2015, Alibaba passed $14 billion in revenue on Singles’ Day, more than double the $5.8 billion in sales of the combined U.S. e-commerce holidays of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

10. Singles’ Day 2016 is predicted to see an increase of 50% over last year’s sales to reach total sales above $21 billion.