Alibaba ramps up offline efforts to lure more shoppers

Retailers and companies are offering deeper discounts and exciting promotions to attract more shoppers to retail outlets, stores and restaurants as shopping demand continues to surge in China.

Buoyed by the enthusiastic response to the Dec 12 shopping festival, e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has expanded the promotions to its newly formed local service entity - Koubei, a restaurant review and service app and its food catering arm Ele.me

Statistics from Alibaba show that more than 80 million orders were made in the first 12 hours of the Dec 12 event via Koubei, up 20 percent from the numbers witnessed on Singles Day. Ele.me saw an increase of nearly 12 percent in orders made during the same period.