Employees walk past a signboard for the Tmall 11.11 online shopping festival in Alibaba Group, Hangzhou city, East China's Zhejiang province, Nov 6, 2015. [Photo/China Daily]

Chinese retailers link up with AliExpress for annual Singles' Day sale in bid to increase their overseas revenue

At a factory office in Daxing district of Beijing, a sales team chat with their customers online in Russian.

They are busy working on orders for Zhong Ding Tai Feng Trade Co Ltd, a manufacturer and exporter of women's down coats.

Back in 2008, the company's business in Eastern Europe boomed fueled by surging exports to 14 Russian-speaking countries.

But the recent economic slowdown has hit sales revenue and prompted the firm to link up with e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd during today's online shopping spectacular.

"The Nov 11 festival is the right time to attract more overseas customers, so they can learn about our brands," Tu Xiusheng, general manager of Zhong Ding Tai Feng, which was founded in 2003, said.

The company's move is a shrewd one. Alibaba, which launched the Nov 11 shopping day in 2009, plans to have 2 billion customers within the next 20 years. Singles' Day can help the online behemoth achieve its goal by raising the company's global profile.

To showcase its cross-border business, Alibaba's AliExpress, an Internet site dedicated to helping Chinese companies sell their products overseas, has teamed up with 70,000 domestic merchants, including Zhong Ding Tai Feng.

More than 54 million discounted items will appear on the shopping platform on Singles' Day to entice foreign customers.