San Francisco, Dec. 10 (People’s Daily Online) -- Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba and Coresight Research, a retail and technology data company, held an online seminar to share with U.S. small and medium-sized enterprises how to use the world's largest online shopping event "Double Eleven” to interact with Chinese consumers on Dec.10, 2020.

At the seminar, Tony Shan, head of Tmall Global for the Americas, and Bruno Schiavi, co-founder of American skincare brand Uncle Bud’s Hemp and CBD, shared their experiences with the participating companies, which hoped to get more information about "Double Eleven.”

With the world facing unprecedented challenges caused by the pandemic this year, China has been among the first of the economies to recover. Many global businesses and brands are looking to the Chinese market for growth, using Alibaba’s digital tools and marketing channels across its ecosystem. This year’s "Double Eleven" was an important opportunity for brand-building and sales for millions of merchants.

With 2020 marking the 12th “Double Eleven,” records are broken every year. Reportedly Alibaba nearly doubled last year’s record with over 498 billion yuan (74 billion dollars) in total sales from November 1 to November 11, boosted by the longer shopping period.

“Double Eleven 2020” actually began on October 20 with the preview period, giving brands more exposure and more opportunities during the sales period to reach Chinese consumers,” Shan said.

“Being new to Tmall and Alibaba, we really had to think outside of the box, but they can also guide you as a brand. They really wanted us to do live streaming, so we had Earvin Johnson do this. It was really amazing to see the connection between the consumers and a new brand,” Schiavi said.

Similar to “Double Eleven,” the U.S.’ “Cyber Monday” also hit a record high this year, with holiday shoppers spending 10.8 billion dollars, up 15.1 percent year-on-year, setting a record for the largest U.S. internet shopping day ever, according to Adobe Analytics data.

It is worth mentioning that 250,000 brands in total participated in "Double Eleven" this year, of which 31,000 are from overseas. Of these overseas brands, 2,600 participated in "Double Eleven" for the first time. The United States was the top country selling to China by gross merchandise value.

“I do believe e-commerce will continue to grow and be a big part of retail consumption. Brands should think about e-commerce as an important growth channel and utilize these tools. Going digital will expand the capabilities to engage with the consumers,” Shan added.