SHANGHAI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) announced that it is hosting an inaugural Taobao Maker Festival from July 22 to July 24 at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition Center. The festival celebrates Taobao merchants by showcasing creative ideas and designs to the world, including cutting-edge gadgets, fashion and high-tech products. In the spirit of embracing the intersection of technology and the arts, the festivities also include various performances by artists, music groups and celebrities from across Asia.
“Mobile Taobao has evolved into an interactive lifestyle platform driven by a vibrant young consumer population who seek to do much more than just shop,” said Daniel Zhang, chief executive officer of Alibaba Group. “It is a destination for innovators, entrepreneurs and creatives to showcase and experiment amongst a community of 423 million Chinese consumers on our China retail marketplaces that come to Mobile Taobao to explore, discover and be entertained.”
Taobao Marketplace was created in 2003 as an online shopping destination for Chinese consumers looking for a wide selection of products at extraordinary value and convenience. In 2010, Alibaba Group launched the Mobile Taobao app to transition its flagship C2C shopping platform to capture additional and more interactive opportunities in mobile commerce. Today, the Taobao platform supports millions of entrepreneurs across China with unparalleled levels of user engagement across e-commerce, digital media, travel, social and local services:
- 150 million daily active users on Mobile Taobao,
- Users launch the Taobao app an average of seven times per day,
- Users spend more than 20 minutes each day on the app,
- Users browse an average of 19 products during a 24-hour period,
- Mobile Taobao users post more than 20 million reviews and comments every day.
“Millennials are the driving force behind Taobao Marketplace, with more than 70 percent of buyers in their 20s and 30s,” said Chris Tung, chief marketing officer at Alibaba Group. “As users continue to engage with the platform in more meaningful ways, we are fostering next-generation consumption features, such as virtual reality, to transcend the overall user experience. We hope the Taobao Maker Festival will inspire young makers to continue innovating and reaching the world through the Taobao ecosystem.”
Highlights of the Taobao Maker Festival include:
- “T”: With technology as one of the key themes at the Taobao Maker Festival, visitors will be able to experience Alibaba’s beta project “Buy+” or “Buy Plus,’ – a new online shopping experience that leverages virtual reality (VR) technology, offering consumers a 360-degree panoramic view of products during the shopping process. Many industry-leading VR companies will showcase next-generation commerce experiences, including Magic Leap, HTC, Samsung, SpaceVR and Sixense, among others.
- “A”: Attendees will celebrate Asia’s emerging art scene and popular culture at a sub-culture exhibition. Highlights include performances by the classic popular Japanese TV show “Kasou Taishou,” Cosplay comic shows and a limited-edition sneaker collection. The festival will also feature performances from contemporary artists, including Japanese virtual hologram pop singer Hatsune Miku. In addition, the Taobao iFashion channel will host a fashion show at which internet celebrities will introduce their latest original designs.
- “O”: 72 young Taobao store owners, creators and innovators will share their creative journey and experiences at various panels, booths and events, highlighting power of Taobao’s ecosystem to support young entrepreneurs cultivate original ideas and concepts.
About Alibaba Group
Alibaba Group's mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere. The company is the largest online and mobile commerce company in the world in terms of gross merchandise volume. Founded in 1999, the company provides the fundamental technology infrastructure and marketing reach to help businesses leverage the power of the Internet to establish an online presence and conduct commerce with hundreds of millions of consumers and other businesses.