Alibaba nails US$74.1bil in GMV during its 2020 11.11 Global Shopping Festival

• 26% increase in GMV compared to last year’s sale
• Infrastructure handled 583k orders per second during peak activity

Alibaba Group Holding Limited has announced that the 2020 11.11 Global Shopping Festival generated US$74.1 billion (RM306 billion) in gross merchandise volume (GMV) during its 11-day campaign, which went from 1 to 11 November 2020. It saw a 26% increase compared to the same timeframe in 2019.

“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,” says Taobao and Tmall president Jiang Fan.

“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.”

This year’s 11.11 Festival was marked as the biggest one yet. 250,000 brands in total participated, 31,000 of which are overseas brands. During the sale, Alibaba’s digital infrastructure handled 583,000 orders per second during the peak of activity.

The Cainiao Network, which is Alibaba Group’s global parcel tracking platform, processed more than 2.32 billion delivery orders cumulatively over the 11-day period.

Livestreaming established itself as an indispensable marketing tool. The sale festival saw over 30 livestreaming channels on Taobao Live, generating more than RMB100 million (US$15.07 million) in GMV.

On top of that, 357 emerging brands became top sellers in their respective subcategories. More than 1,800 emerging brands surpassed their GMV from 11.11 last year. Of these, 94 emerging brands enjoyed sales growth of over 1,000%.

Interestingly, the United States was the top country selling to China in terms of GMV. Other top-selling countries to China, in alphabetical order, include: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and UK.

A significant year

This year’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival is stated as a significant one for Alibaba, as every 12 years represents a completion of a full cycle in Chinese culture and numerology.

Addressing the media in a press briefing, Liu Bo (pic), Vice President of Alibaba Group and General Manager of Tmall Marketing and Operations, says that  Tmall is “especially ready” for this year’s festival, with preparations beginning three to four months back based on direct feedback from merchants and consumers. The introduction of two 11.11 sales windows is another key change from previous years.

Another big focus for Alibaba this year, says Liu, is empowering participating merchants and brands with new capabilities available through the Alibaba Business Operating System (ABOS). This ranges from brand incubation, livestreaming e-commerce, membership, brand building, sales and marketing, and tools for consumer engagement.

“The scale of 11.11 makes it an ideal platform to put these capabilities to the test,” he notes. As an example, Alibaba is encouraging manufacturers to move up the value chain and create a brand of their own. Through the ABOS-powered incubation process and support by Alibaba, some of these manufacturers are now the top 10 or 20 selling brands in terms of GMV for their product category.

Beyond that, Liu says that internationally established brands are also leveraging Tmall to introduce new products to the receptive young and middle-class consumers in China. Many international brands including L’Oreal and Estée Lauder are using 11.11 to introduce sub-brands to the China market as well.During the briefing, Bo acknowledges that Malaysia and Southeast Asia as a whole is an “important region”, with Tmall Global serving as a way to satisfy China’s demand for SEA goods (especially tropical fruit and produce).“A lot of specialty products from SEA are very popular here and we think there is huge potential for further growth. Ultimately, the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival is for consumers. Alibaba hopes consumers can truly enjoy it as a celebration of their own,” he concludes.