Shoppers head to Alibaba sites for 'double 12' deals

More than 2 million online retailers joined the "double 12" shopping festival on Alibaba's online shopping platforms Taobao and Tmall yesterday as it tries to encourage more sellers to provide more diverse and quality goods and services to consumers.

The number of retailers is far more than for last year's "double 12", and was expected to result in a transaction value record.

However, an Alibaba spokeswoman said it would not disclose the amount this time, unlike for last month's "double 11" sales day.

Taobao and Tmall, Alibaba's two main online retailing platforms, recorded 35 billion yuan (HK$44.5 billion) in sales revenue on November 11 during a 24-hour "double 11" sales festival.

"The nature of the December 12 event is different from November 11," the spokeswoman said.

The company had said earlier that the "double 12" sales event was aimed at giving more exposure to small and medium-sized retailers and encouraging them to improve the quality of products and services offered online.