(Yicai Global) Oct.21 -- Some 290,000 brands and 14 million types of products are on sale on Tmall as the annual Double-11, one of China's largest online shopping extravaganzas that attracts hundreds of millions of customers each year, kicked off on two major platforms, including JD.Com.

The 13th Double-11 started at 8 p.m. with pre-orders, Alibaba Group Holding's Tmall announced yesterday. The first window of opportunity to complete the orders will be Nov. 1-3. The second opportunity will be Nov. 11. Consumers can share their shopping carts with friends and family from Oct. 27.

Tmall's preparations for the event began in July. The discount is CNY30 (USD4.70) for each CNY200 (USD31.30) spent.

The Hangzhou-based e-commerce giant's live-streaming arm Taobao Live will feature 700 leading influencers and brand representatives in online sessions through the festival. As of noon, stars Li Jiaqi and Wei Ya have respectively achieved CNY10.7 billion (USD1.7 billion) and CNY8.3 billion (USD1.3 billion) in gross merchandise value after some 10 hours of streaming.

JD.Com’s pre-ordering period continues till Oct. 31, based on its website announcement. The discount schedule matches that of its rival, CNY30 for each CNY200.

The Beijing-based e-commerce behemoth is revamping its mobile application. On Oct. 18, JD Group and its logistics arm Dada Group said they have added a new "nearby" section on the marketplace's home page to allow shoppers to find offline outlets such as supermarkets, pharmacies, and convenience stores within a three to five-kilometer radius from their homes and receive the goods within an hour.

As Tmall's GMV of the annual consumption bonanza grew to CNY498.2 billion (USD77.9 billion) in 2020, the platform has been considering sustainability. Tmall intends to "leverage the power of Double-11 to encourage sustainable development and to promote inclusiveness to consumers, merchants and partners in the system" through package recycling and donations, said Chris Tung, chief marketing officer of Alibaba Group.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi