Alibaba has officially wrapped up its 12th annual 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, more commonly known around the world as Singles’ Day.
Following the shopping extravaganza, the e-commerce behemoth announced that it generated gross merchandise volume of 498.2 billion yuan, or about $74.1 billion at current exchange. According to the company, the United States was the top international market for brands selling to China, contributing more than 36.2 billion, or $5.4 billion in GMV. Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and the United Kingdom were among the other biggest selling countries.
“This year’s 11.11 demonstrates the opportunity of the Chinese consumer market for brands, retailers, small businesses and farmers around the world,” Alibaba Group president Michael Evans said in a statement.
He added, “Today’s businesses need both a China strategy and a digital strategy to succeed, particularly in the face of the challenges posed by the pandemic. Alibaba is focused on helping brands around the world both tap into the China opportunity and digitize their operations, helping them build growth, resiliency and a direct customer connection.”
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Unlike its Singles’ Day events in the past, the online retailer extended the festival from 24 hours to an 11-day campaign, with two windows — one from Nov. 1 through 3 and the other on Nov. 11 — for promotions and markdowns on its platforms. About 800 million consumers were said to have shopped on Alibaba’s sites, which showcased products from more than 250,000 brands — including upwards of 31,000 international brands and 2,600 first-time participants.
What’s more, Alibaba shared that 470-plus labels surpassed 100 million yuan, or $14.9 million, in GMV. Among them were tech powerhouse Apple, cosmetics purveyors Esteé Lauder, Lancôme and L’Oréal, and sportswear giants Adidas and Nike. The number of orders created at peak for all items during the Singles’ Day event was 583,000 per second.
This year, the retailer joined a growing list of international chains and websites — counting Walmart, Target and Amazon — that extended the timelines of their holiday sales events in a bid to avert logistical challenges heightened by the COVID-19 health crisis, as well as capitalize on shoppers flocking to online channels, with many of them unable to visit stores amid renewed lockdowns.
