Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., at the launch of the company’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival in Hong Kong on Oct. 20, 2016. Photographer: Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg  Welcome to the FORBES live blog of Alibaba’s 11-11 Global Shopping Festival.  I am here in Shenzhen, China’s tech capital, covering and participating in what will be the largest single day consumer event in history. Starting at midnight on November 11 (11AM on Nov. 10 EDT) China will engage in a frenzy of online consumption.  The holiday’s corporate patron saint is Alibaba, the world’s biggest e-commerce company, with 450 million customers in China. It is widely expected that over the course of the day Alibaba will help brands, retailers and individuals sell $20 billion worth of goods on its two major platforms Tmall (B2C) and Taobao (C2C) in just 24 hours.  While many Chinese e-commerce platforms as well as bricks and mortar retailers will participate in the holiday, none will produce even a fraction of the sales, excitement, events and innovation that Alibaba will.  Before the shopping starts, Alibaba will hold its second annual “Gala” – a glamorous, celebrity-filled, combination of the Oscars red carpet, a multi-headliner concert and New Year’s Eve. It was to be headlined by pop superstar Katy Perry, but she cancelled at the last minute. The party starts at 8PM in China (7AM EDT) and will finish with the countdown to midnight. For a full rundown of the history of 11-11, and how Alibaba plans to use the event to pursue 2 billion customers and remake global retail, you can read my preview here.  Prior to the Gala, I will be addressing members of the global media, brands and Alibaba executives as part of a discussion on cross border e-commerce, Chinese consumers and the future of retail. My live coverage will include the address, the four-hour Gala, and the start of the shopping frenzy.  The last 40 minutes saw a series on song and dance numbers. The message in the images is clear: We are living in a material world and we are material girls and boys. And the future is in the digital world. The lines between consumption, entertainment, and digital living is gone. Now some floating Angels. Frankly I have no idea what they represent but they look great.  Check that. My neighbor just told me viewers at home are using the app to direct what they do and say.  That’s an element that is lost being in the building. Viewers at home are able to shop, play games, direct the show and more. It’s a truly interactive event to set the stage for an interactive retail world.  One Republic just performed. I can’t say there was a huge reaction or recognition from the crowd.  The gala has officially begun. And kicking things off are David and Victoria Beckham. David just launched his Haig Club whisky in China and has a special charity for kids in need here.  Victoria is wearing her own Victoria Beckham line dress. She explained that she just opened a store in Hong Kong and and showed off her new sunglasses–exclusive to China. The night gets off to a fittingly commercial start.  Per R. Danielle Bailey, head of APAC research, L2inc:  While global brands should for sure be looking to China as a growth/business opportunity, more importantly they should be watching China and specifically Alibaba this Single’s Day to see the future of e-commerce. Alibaba is doing more than just enabling shopping.  They are proving technologies ability to drive commerce–live streaming, branded entertainment, interactive TV, virtual and augmented reality – and not just for entertainment sake they’ve got it figured out. Is there another company in the world transforming the how consumers shop at this rate or at this scale? Westerners should stay tuned.  Per Andrea Wasserman, consultant and writer at Captain Customer, LLC, and U.S. retail executive:  Alibaba’s ownership of media, tech and retail properties creates a unique platform for shopping that’s both entertaining and efficient. More global retailers, particularly those based in the U.S., should be thinking about how to reach the Chinese consumer and how Alibaba can be an enabler for doing so.  Beyond the revenue to be gained, this is an opportunity for retailers to offer — and learn from — technology they haven’t developed themselves, including live streaming and VR. With Alibaba, retailers can build both a business and a brand in China, which looks to be at the forefront of a global shopping revolution.  Some comments from Frank Lavin and Duncan Clark who joined me in a panel before the Gala:  Lavin: It is imperative that every brand and retailer have a China strategy, global e-commerce strategy and an Alibaba strategy.  Clark: Shopping online is already the default setting for China’s massive consumer base. Merchants and brands are training their sights on this market, exploring new techniques and technologies–from live streaming to virtual reality to games–where the worlds of shopping and entertainment are merging. China is the laboratory where the future of global retail is being created.  We are about 35 minutes from the start of the Gala. We have learned that Katy Perry has cancelled her appearance due to a family emergency but one must wonder if it is election related.  David Beckham (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)  Soccer superstar David Beckham has been appointed new “Global Ambassador” instead. His wife, Victoria, posted an Instagram shot with Jack Ma just earlier today.  I will now join a distinguished panel of global influencers with experience in Chinese consumption, e-commerce, retail and branding. They are Deborah Weinswig, managing director of global retail technology at FUNG Research; Frank Lavin, CEO of Export Now and former US Ambassador to Singapore; Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA China and author of the excellent new book “Alibaba: The House that Jack Ma built.”  In China shopping is a sport and shopping is entertainment.  We are using technology to blend entertainment and shopping into a single experience.  In Western markets shopping is a chore. Online and offline. Here it is entertainment. Shopping is fun. Alibaba wants to bring that model to the world.  Over 75% of Alibaba app users in China are under 35. And for them there is no distinction between shopping and entertainment.  There will be hundreds of millions watching the gala tonight. They will be able to use the app to direct the action onstage. Buy what the stars are wearing and interact with the show.  We are assembled at the Shenzhen Crowne Plaza hotel for the pre-Gala press conference, panel discussion and dinner.  Alibaba co-founder and Vice Chairman Joe Tsai is kicking things off with his address to the media and gathered notables.
Last year, Singles' Day became the largest single-day retail event in human history, producing $14.3 billion in sales for Alibaba. This year, the e-commerce giant will likely sell between $17 and $20 billion worth of goods in 24 hours.