Alibaba Singles Day performs ‘in line’ with $84.5 billion event in 2021
The 14th annual Alibaba Global Shopping Festival (known colloquially as “11.11” or “Singles Day” had sales approaching the all-time high gross merchandise volume (GMV) total from 2021.
While Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. did not release specific sales figures for its 2022 online sales extravaganza, the Chinese e-commerce giant said results were ‘in line’ with the $84.5 billion in revenue it reported in 2021. This figure came in ahead of the formerly record-setting total of $74.1 billion reported for Alibaba’s 2020 Singles Day event, which in turn more than doubled the previously record-setting $38.4 billion in GMV Alibaba generated during 2019 Singles Day.
For the third year in a row, Singles Day was an 11-day event. Before 2020, it had been a 24-hour promotion with some preview sales. This year’s sale featured over 290,000 brands from over 90 countries and regions across 7,000 product categories.
In its second year running wholly on the cloud, Alibaba said this year's 11.11 Global Shopping Festival saw improved computing efficiency. Computing cost per resource unit was reduced by 8% compared to April 1 – Nov. 11, 2021. Alibaba Cloud's five hyper-scale data centers across China doubled the amount of clean energy used to support this year's 11.11 compared to 2021.
Other highlights from the 2022 11.11 Global Shopping Festival include:
- 1,009 overseas brands on Tmall Global achieved year-on-year total sales growth of more than 100%.
- The Alibaba Cainiao delivery platform has delivered over 120 million parcels to doorstep. Close to 2 million packages were delivered by 700 automated guided vehicles (AGVs), doubling the number from the prior year.
- During this year's 11.11, Cainiao rolled out a package recycling initiative across more than 130,000 Cainiao Post stations, recycling nearly 4 million carton parcel boxes from Nov. 1-11. A daily average of more than 100,000 consumers dispatched parcels using recycled cartons at Cainiao Post stations during 11.11.
In an interesting international partnership, premium mall owner Simon and Shop Premium Outlets participated in the festival. The two companies teamed up with Tmall Global, the cross-border e-commerce platform of Alibaba Group, for a series of livestream shopping events leading up to the 14th annual Alibaba Global Shopping Festival.
The livestream events allowed shoppers in China the change to virtually shop SPO’ online inventory. They were also able to purchase directly from participating stores located within Simon’s Woodbury Common Premium Outlets in time for Alibaba’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival and throughout the holiday season.
“We thank all our participating merchants and partners of our ecosystem for working with us to deliver another 11.11 Global Shopping Festival that demonstrates a steady, promising growth trajectory. Together, we have witnessed the resilience and vibrancy of China’s consumption sector,” said Chui Xue, president of industry development and operation center of Taobao and Tmall, Alibaba Group.
“Our priority for this 11.11 was to enhance certainty for our merchants’ operation. We are pleased to have helped our participating brands and merchants accumulate new loyal customers during the festival which will serve as a strong foundation for their sustainable operation," said Xue. "We are also encouraged to see an emergence of new consumption trends with huge untapped potential. We will continue to innovate and strengthen our capabilities to provide our merchants with reliable opportunities for long-term growth and make concerted efforts to meet consumers’ evolving needs.”
The 11.11 Global Shopping Festival began in 2009 with participation from 27 retailers.