The partnership is intended to strengthen Taobao Malaysia’s efforts to grow the local creator economy by offering new income opportunities to content creators and consumers, while improving product discovery through livestreaming and short-form social content.

According to the companies, the initiative aligns with rising social commerce adoption in Malaysia, where short-form videos and livestreams increasingly influence purchasing decisions. The local digital commerce sector is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14.32% between 2025 and 2033.

“The creator economy presents significant opportunities, especially in Malaysia, where demand for overseas products continues to rise,” said Jess Lew, country head of Taobao Malaysia. 

She added, “Through attractive commissions and affiliate program support, the Taobao Affiliate Programme enables established creators, emerging micro-influencers and everyday shoppers to monetise content while helping consumers shop with confidence.” Lew said the collaboration aims to recruit more than 200 creators to produce content and host livestreams featuring trending products and localized brand experiences.

Categories expected to benefit from the programme include apparel and accessories, home and living products, sports and outdoor goods, toys and collectibles, and furniture.

Nicholas Lim Pinn Yang, director and CEO of Foodie Media, said, “This partnership creates a strong pathway to expand awareness and participation in the Taobao Affiliate Programme, enabling more content creators, micro-influencers to unlock new earning potential through affiliate model for Taobao products.” 

He added, “Leveraging our network of content creators and experience in developing commercially driven campaigns, Foodie Media will work closely with Taobao Malaysia to equip participants with content guidance and market insights.”

Lim Yeong Shen, director of W Talent, commented, “We are excited to collaborate with Taobao Malaysia to expand creator participation in livestream and social content formats. Leveraging our expertise in talent development and campaign execution, we aim to empower Malaysian creators with the tools, knowledge, and revenue opportunities needed to succeed in creator-commerce.”

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Titled ‘TaoTao’s Story,’ the animated film uses traditional Chinese shadow puppetry to tell the legend of TaoTao, the world’s first wild-trained and successfully rewilded panda. Adopted by Taobao in 2012, TaoTao’s recent discovery in the wild, possibly as a ‘grandfather,’ marks a milestone in China’s wild panda conservation efforts and a significant moment for Taobao.

To introduce TaoTao’s hometown of Sichuan, Heaven&Hell Shanghai used the region’s iconic shadow puppetry to tell TaoTao’s story. The film highlights ten key moments, from TaoTao’s wild training by its mother, CaoCao, to its rewilding, adaptation to nature, and eventual legacy as a legend.

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The creative agency also enlisted Zhuying Xiong, the storyteller behind the “Headless Monk” segment in the popular game Black Myth: Wukong, to narrate TaoTao’s story through song.

Through this campaign, Taobao aimed to leverage its brand recognition to raise awareness of TaoTao’s legendary story and highlight the need for support in constructing habitats for TaoTao and the 1,900 other wild giant pandas.

In addition to the animated film, Taobao launched 10 posters in high-traffic subway stations across Sichuan and Hangzhou to raise awareness of TaoTao and encourage support for wild panda habitat conservation. To further engage the public, Heaven&Hell created limited-edition TaoTao plush toys, allowing fans to connect with the campaign in a fun, wearable way.

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The shopping festival, lasting through eleven (11) days from November 1 to 11 across Alibaba and its affiliates like AliExpress and Lazada, has seen 470 brand participations. These brands, in total, amassed USD 15.1M in GMV.

Other notable statistics include:

The United States was the top country selling to China in terms of GMV value. Other key nations include Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and the UK.

“Over the past 12 years, innovation has been at the heart of 11.11 and along the way it became a global consumer festival. 11.11 is defined by our consumers, merchants and our partners across the ecosystem, and also a beneficiary of all the support from society. “We will continue to focus on developing our digital infrastructure in the service of empowering merchants of all sizes to find a path to success in the digital economy,” said Jiang Fan, President of Taobao and Tmall.

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As ‘11.11’ continues to grow by the year, Alibaba focused on launching new strategies in the midst of changing consumer behaviors. Strategies include promotion of Alipay’s digital lifestyle platform, ‘doubling’ of shopping windows that will aid in featuring more brands and merchants, consumer reach and promotions, and utilization of livestreaming technology to drive more engagement from customers, especially from Chinese consumers, which has been noted to create the largest international presence to date.

Alibaba’s Alipay digital lifestyle platform aims at connecting almost two million local service providers in China, including micro-merchants such as street stalls and small-scale grocery stores. On the other hand, the company recently launched its Taobao Deals’ “RMB1 Sales” campaign, which aims at encouraging consumers to purchase goods at huge discounts and free shipping. Lastly, in regards to the livestreaming strategies, Alibaba aims to launch a shopping festival concept in Southeast Asia-namely in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam markets.

Jiang Fan, president of Taobao and Tmall, expressed his hopes for the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, stating that through these innovations, the company hopes to adapt to the changes this year has brought to the consumer market.

“The pandemic has fundamentally changed consumer shopping preferences and accelerated digital transformation of many businesses. Through our expansion from ‘single’ to ‘double,’ 11.11 will be offering more opportunities for merchants both online and offline to engage with consumers as well as provide a better consumer experience overall,” Fan stated.

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