CRI听力:Alibaba introduces "new retail" to boost sales amid shopping spree

For this year's 'double 11' shopping spree, Chinese Internet giants are turning to new technologies to help boost sales both online and offline.

Meanwhile regulators are said to be keeping a close eye on e-commerce fraud as country's biggest online shopping day rapidly approaches
Online retailers are gearing up for the annual online shopping frenzy, which falls on November 11th, or 'double 11.'

This year, Alibaba is hoping to increase its sales both online and offline through the idea of "new retail," a concept which incorporates high-tech and new business models.

Dong Benhong, Chief Marketing Officer with Alibaba, says over 1 million vendors are going to participate in the "new retail" concept to help connect both online and offline sales.

He says 100-thousand of them are smart online stores which offer intelligent and personalized services for consumers.

"We adopted the technology of 'Location Based Service' to help build a particularly intimate relationship instantly between offline stores and consumers. The technology helps forward information of certain brands and promotions to consumers. Meanwhile, the experience at a brick-and-mortar store is also being enhanced through the use of Artificial Intelligence and other services, like instant delivery of new products and offline store experiences,” Dong added.

The concept of "new retail" has been proposed by Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba. 

His suggestion is a new concept of retailing coming together with modern logistics, big data and cloud computing which will help provide a new shopping experience for consumers. 

Chu Yin from CCG, a global think-tank, suggests the "new retail" concept could be a game-changer.

"Previously, sales during the "double eleven" festival were lopsided, as online sales and offline sales were separated. Consumers were rushing to snap up orders, going through frantic shopping and waiting for deliveries. This sometimes resulted in a slump in offline sales. The introduction of "new retail" this year helps traditional online purchases, as they can also be realized through offline shopping,” Chu suggested

Under the concept, customers are allowed to take a closer look at the products at a nearby store and get discounts and e-coupons by scanning a QR code or even the product at the store.

Official stats show China has the world's largest e-commerce market, with online retail sales reaching nearly 5.2 trillion yuan or more than 750 billion U.S. dollars in 2016, a year-on-year increase of 26 percent.

But due in-part to the enormous growth, the sector is also running into problems.

To boost sales, e-commerce operators have been known to either deceive or mislead consumers by faking sales volumes or manipulating user comments.

Officials with China's top economic regulator have issued warnings to consumers.

Businesses are now facing the possibility of criminal charges if they're found uploading false promotions or fake comments. 

Chen Hongwan is a senior official with the National Development and Reform Commission. 

"Last October, eight government departments, including the NDRC and the People's Bank of China, along with eight major e-commerce companies, signed an information-sharing agreement to crack down on fake transactions. Led by the first and second rotating presidents, Alibaba and JD.com, five blacklists have been created, with a total of 22 criminal groups and 346 businesses having been exposed for fraudulent practices by the foundation of the Anti-e-commerce Fraud Alliance. The campaign has achieved excellent results,” said Chen

November 11th first started out around a decade ago as an online trend among single college students, who would treat themselves to gifts they purchased themselves on the date, which is 1-1-1-1 on the calandar, with the number-1 obviously a symbol for being single.

Catching on to the trend, Alibaba began offering promotions and sales on that day 9-years ago to try to generate increased sales.

Since then, November 11th has become the country's busiest day of the year for online retailers, with billions of US dollars worth of goods being bought and sold on the day. 

This year's sales fall a week from this coming Friday.