Alibaba expects record volumes for latest ‘Single’s Day’ e-commerce event

China’s Alibaba revealed a preview of the promotions planned for Single’s Day on Nov. 11, the largest one-day retail event in the world, which requires a similarly massive logistics effort.

Alibaba expects more than 100 million customers to participate in the sales day, which will include more than 140,000 brands total and more than 60,000 international brands. Alibaba will incorporate both online and offline shopping platforms including about 600,000 Chinese neighborhood stores and more than 100,000 physical “smart stores” offering virtual fitting rooms, shopping tours, payment and deliveries.

To support the giant shopping event, dubbed “11/11” and meant to celebrate people who are unmarried, Cainiao – Alibaba’s logistics network – will  invest more than US$200 million to support merchants and logistics partners participating in the event, and will bring in more than 3 million logistics personnel to handle the packages generated over Single’s Day.