Alibaba to offer Nov 11 deals in offline stores

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd used to fly solo on Singles' Day, China's largest online shopping festival that falls on Nov 11 every year.

But this year, the online shopping giant plans to make the 24-hour festival an "omni-channel celebration" by inviting a large number of bricks-and-mortar stores across the country to participate too.

Alibaba said that 180,000 offline stores, such as shopping malls and chain stores, across 330 cities in China will be involved in the Nov 11 event.