American superstar Katy Perry poses for a picture during the gala of "Once Upon a Time" for the benefit of a children's hospital in Los Angeles, California. (Photo : Getty Images)
International pop star Kata Perry has been named as the global ambassador for upcoming Singles Day, or "11.11," considered to be the world's biggest one-day online shopping event, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba said in a statement.
A report by technologynewschina.com said that a gala event will be held in Shenzhen to kick off the shopping festival, where the American superstar is also slated to perform.
Alibaba said Katy Perry was chosen because she "uses her music to inspire positivity among her audience" and her international profile "perfectly fits the theme of the 11.11 gala."
The e-commerce giant said that Perry would help promote the gala worldwide as well as call attention to the country's biggest shopping day of the year.
Reuters said that Alibaba aims to expand Singles' Day sales globally this year, as it plans to open up Hong Kong and Taiwan as the first markets outside China, which will enable consumers to buy international products via Tmall.
Aside from the performance by Katy Perry, this year's event will also feature virtual reality shopping, and a live-streamed fashion show in Shanghai where viewers can pre-order items as they appear on the catwalk, Alibaba said.
A Fortune report said that Alibaba broke its own previous Singles Day record with 91.2 billion yuan ($14.3 billion) in sales, which is more than double from the combined total online sales of similar events in the U.S. such as Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Alibaba first promoted Singles Day in 2009 and as sales volume increased, many other online retailers like JD.com, later joined in the promotion, which made the festival an e-commerce battle for companies.
This year, the concept of Shopping Season will be introduced by JD.com, which provides consumers alternative by compressing its shopping needs into a single day.
Han Rui, JD.com's marketing operations director, told the Chongqing Economic Times in an interview that consumers will have a better shopping experience with the deals spread out.
