Alibaba plans new shopping festival

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said on Thursday that it will create another online shopping event in the next two months to tap further into rural consumption.

The e-commerce giant, which generated a gross merchandise volume of 91.2 billion yuan ($14.3 billion) in the 24-hour sales event on Wednesday, said it will hold a similar festival to coincide with the upcoming Spring Festival in February.

Zhang Yong, chief executive officer of Alibaba, said like urban residents, many rural consumers have also become online shopping enthusiasts. "The soon-to-be-launched shopping event will better serve rural consumers and bring more agricultural products to the dining tables of urban consumers," he said.