[Katy Perry, file photo]

Chinese e-commerce juggernaut Alibaba revealed on Oct. 17 that international pop star Katy Perry would be the global ambassador for upcoming Singles Day, or “11.11” – the world’s biggest one-day online shopping event. The American superstar will also perform at a gala event in Shenzhen to kick off the shopping festival.

Katy Perry was chosen because of her choice to “use her music to inspire positivity among her audience.” What’s more, her international profile “perfectly fits the theme of the 11.11 gala,” Alibaba said in a statement.

With Perry’s involvement, the e-commerce giant believes the gala will be promoted worldwide and bring attention to China’s largest shopping day of the year. On last year’s Singles Day, Alibaba broke its own previous record with 91.2 billion RMB ($14.3 billion) in sales, or more than double the total online sales from Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Money combined, according to a Fortune report.

Singles Day was first promoted by Alibaba in 2009. Later, noting the unprecedented sales volume, many other online retailers such as JD.com joined the promotion, turning the festival into an e-commerce battle.

This year, JD.com has introduced the concept of Shopping Season as an alternative to compressing consumers’ shopping needs into a single day. Spreading out the deals may provide a better shopping experience, said Han Rui, JD.com’s marketing operations director, in an interview with Chongqing Economic Times.