Today is Singles’ Day, the world’s biggest shopping festival. This year, the two largest e-commerce platforms Tmall and JD extended their promotions from November 1 to 11 with pre-sales happening in late October. Consumers could order products and pay a deposit during pre-sales but the order was processed and remainder of the cost paid on November 11 itself. The longer shopping festival aimed to boost the retail sector which received a heavy blow due to COVID-19 earlier in the year.
With promotions and discounts still taking place throughout China, we have put together some astounding figures from the event so far.
| E-commerce platform | Total transaction volume | |
| Tmall | 498.2 billion RMB from November 1-11 | |
| JD | 271.5 billion RMB from by November 1-11 | |
| Suning | 5 billion RMB in 19 minutes |
Tmall’s sales take the top sport
Alibaba’s Tmall, the founder of Singles’ Day, generated 498.2 billion RMB worth of sales between November 1 and November 11.
- 342 brands surpassed a GMV of 100 million RMB between November 1 and 00:35 on November 11.
- In the same time frame, 13 brands surpassed a GMV of 1 billion RMB, including Apple, home appliance store Midea, Huawei, Nike, Haier, Xiaomi, Lancôme, Adidas, Estee Lauder and L’Oréal.
- Domestic make-up brand Perfect Diary obtained a GMV of 500 million RMB, making it the top cosmetics brand on Tmall.
- 70 home appliance brands surpassed 100 million RMB within the first hour of November 11
JD & Suning also chart impressive sales
On competitor JD’s site, total transaction volume surpassed 271.5 billion RMB between November 1 and November 11.
With the e-commerce livestreaming industry experiencing rapid growth in 2020, it’s hardly surprising that sales generated from livestreaming exceeded 100 million RMB in 6 seconds on the platform. Electrical appliance manufacturers Haier, Midea and Gree sold over 100 million RMB in one minute. JD consumers were also after goods for their furry companions and the sales of pet food exceeded 3 million RMB.
Retail giant Suning announced that the combined GMV from their e-commerce platform, Tmall store and livestreaming hit 5 billion RMB in 19 minutes on November 11.
COVID-19 spurs shift in spending trends
As predicted, brands in the fitness, technology, home and beauty industry saw impressive sales revenue. COVID-19 has spurred consumers to adopt a more healthy lifestyle and also re-decorate their home. As such, health-related products, decoration kits and home appliances have seen a rapid increase in demand this year. Amid China’s rapid digitalisation, demand for technological products has also soared and Xiaomi’s GMV from all channels surpassed 10 billion RMB during the extended Singles’ Day sales period.
Read more about Singles’ Day in our case study: Student festival to world’s largest shopping festival – Alibaba’s Singles’ Day
And check out this documentary about Singles’ Day journey from a student festival to the world’s largest shopping festival:
Stay tuned to Dao news for the latest updates on Singles’ Day sales.
