It’s safe to predict that before we’ve even moved to our second helping of Thanksgiving fare, hundreds of thousands of Americans will already be out the door to get a jump on Christmas shopping. The insanity of Black Friday has earned it the reputation as the biggest shopping frenzy in the world.But it turns out, Black Friday is well short of this honor. The Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba – which recently leased space in South Lake Union – puts on a 24 hours online sale on 11.11. It’s called Shopping Festival (a tradition that, according to a Wall Street Journal report last year, dates all the way back to ... 2009). According to Alizila – Alibaba’s news provider – sales last year totaled $5.8 billion: more than $2 billion more than all sales from Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.Never heard of Shopping Festival? You might soon enough. It’s already on the radar of Seattle jewelry company Blue Nile. They will participate in this year’s 11.11 Shopping Festival for the first time. Says Jon Sainsbury, president of Blue Nile, “Anybody is going to look at that get pretty excited about getting their brand in front of a large customer base and exposure to a lot of new customers.” According to Alizala, Alibaba is trying to make the Festival more of a global affair. If they already do $5.8 billion in sales without much of a global market, the potential is infinite. And all that without any worries of being trampled. — D.K.
Troll
Blue Nile jewelers go to China
Sponsorship
By Ashli Blow
Ashli Blow is a Seattle-based freelance writer who talks with people — in places from urban watersheds to remote wildernesses — about the environment around them. She’s been working in journal
Ashli Blow is a Seattle-based freelance writer who talks with people — in places from urban watersheds to remote wildernesses — about the environment around them. She’s been working in journal