Alibaba's Singles Day e-commerce extravaganza has lessons for Amazon

Chinese company uses games and livestreams to attract record revenue

20191112 Singles Day live streaming diapers.jpg

A live-streaming anchor promotes baby diapers on the eve of Singles Day: Alibaba has found a way to directly talk to its shoppers. © Reuters

On November 11, I had my biggest annual moment of FOMO -- fear of missing out -- and I knew the whole of China was feeling the same.

Singles Day, which started in 1993 as a celebration for those not in relationships, has turned into an online shopping extravaganza orchestrated by Alibaba, the world's largest e-commerce company by gross merchandise value.

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