Taobao merchants demonstrate their creativity to visitors at the Taobao Maker Festival. (Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn)
Taobao, Alibaba Group's iconic e-retail site, kicked off its third Taobao Maker Festival Thursday night in Hangzhou to showcase some of the latest innovative designer products on the online retail platform.
Held outdoors in the famous West Lake area, this year's festival features the most creative young entrepreneurs in themed zones where they exhibit their creations in areas such as anime, intangible cultural legacy, vintage, pets and gourmet.
Through Sunday, visitors are able to participate in interactive activities and forest-themed concerts, and try out the latest technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality. A night market is open for the first time to extend the excitement into the evening.
The gala is designed to provide smaller merchants an opportunity to share their concepts and stories behind all the eye-catching products, said Chris Tung, chief marketing officer of Alibaba.
