An employee works at the Shanghai distribution center of ZTO Express in Shanghai, east China, Nov. 12, 2017. Courier companies were running at full speed to deliver massive number of parcels after Alibaba Group's 11.11 Singles' Day global online shopping spree on Nov. 11. (Xinhua/Ding Ting)

Jessica Liu, co-president and regional head of commercial of Lazada Group, said recently that this year's Double 11 online shopping festival in China will see strong partnerships across the region, with more than 70 brands collaborating with Lazada to create a visually fun brand showcase. 

More than 350,000 vendors and brands across the region will be participating, including Lancôme, Under Armour, Swatch and Castrol. Lazada also unveiled its first Lazada regional brand ambassador, South Korean actor and model Lee Min Ho, she added. 

Lazada is a Southeast Asian e-commerce firm under online giant Alibaba. Its logistics network covers six countries in Southeast Asia, with 45 logistics partners, over 15 warehouse facilities and over 400 fulfillment centers and hubs. 

To prepare for the large volume of deliveries, Lazada has over 40,000 warehouses and logistics staff to support about 20 times the volume of regular deliveries from domestic and cross-border sales, according to the note sent to the Global Times.

The online gala has attracted global players, even newcomers. 

Mauro Maggioni, CEO of Asia Pacific with Golden Goose, told the Global Times that the company feels that the Double 11 festival is not just about achieving targets, but about using it as an opportunity to showcase the brand's DNA.

Golden Goose is an Italian brand established in 2000, and it has become reputed for its Italian artisanal manufacturing. In August this year, the company joined forces with Tmall to debut on its platform, and it will be participating in the festival for the first time with an exclusive Tmall product launch. 

Fang Jun, vice president of data and digital with Unilever China, said the company believes that due to COVID-19, there has been some suppression in consumer demand, which makes meeting sales targets challenging. However, it expects the festival to boost consumer demand once again. 

As Alibaba's key logistics arm, Cainiao has been investing in cutting-edge logistics technology and innovations such as automated guided vehicles, automated parcel collection machines and smart lockers to support the greater volumes of orders during the festival, James Zhao, general manager with the Cainiao global supply chain at Cainiao Network, said. 

During last year's festival, Cainiao processed more than 1.8 billion orders.

Over 26,000 international brands from 84 countries and regions are exporting to China via Cainiao's extensive global supply chain network, and Cainiao's overseas warehouses have expanded to major cities in 12 countries across four continents, so goods from countries like Japan, South Korea, Australia and Spain can be directly delivered to China.

This year's festival will see more brands and products making their debuts on Taobao and Tmall's platforms, with over 2,600 new overseas brands, more than 2 million new products, and 250,000 brands introduced to the festival for the first time this year. Renowned luxury brands joining for the first time include Prada, Cartier, Montblanc, Piaget, Balenciaga and Chloé.