Standing out from Singles’ Day: Tmall Made Its Highest Sales Record in Past 10 Years

This year marks the 12th Double 11 Shopping Festival, with the participation of more than 250,000 million brands and 800 million customers. Tmall holds a Double 11 Superstar Concert with many celebrities, including Katy Perry to be the surprise performer. Tmall is not defeated by the impact of COVID-19, but makes good use of changing consumer habits like live streaming and online shopping.

Katy Perry performs at Tmall’s 12th Double 11 Shopping Festival. (Courtesy of GimmePop)

Breaking record

November 11 is celebrated in China as an unofficial holiday called Singles’ day since the numeral one represents a single stick on a family tree in Chinese culture. Instead of mourning for themselves because they do not have valentines, single people in China choose to be proud of themselves and celebrate it by shopping. As a result, stores and shops do not let this great chance go, whether online or brick-and-mortar stores. Many stores and shops have launched various sales activities in order to attract as many customers as possible on November 11. Among the fierce competition, one dark horse has stood out: Tmall, which is one of Alibaba’s branches.

Tmall is a business-to-consumer online retail platform, and singles’ day has always been one of Tmall’s biggest shopping festivals. Instead of celebrating only on November 11, Tmall decided to start its sales from November 1 to November 11 this year. According to the statistics, Tmall has has generated a Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV, total volume of merchandise sold) of 74.1 U.S. dollars in 2020, which is a significant growth compared to its outcome in 2019, which is 38.4 billion U.S. dollars.

Alibaba’s gross merchandise volume on Singles’ day from 2011 to 2020 in billion U.S. dollars. (Courtesy of Statista)

Influence of COVID-19

Starting its sales activity earlier is not the only reason that makes Tmall’s sharp increase in sales on singles’ day. In 2020, under the influence of COVID-19, customers around the world have considerably changed their consuming habits. Instead of viewing it as a threat, Alibaba had seen the opportunities brought by COVID-19 and was determined to make good use of it. Daniel Zhang, the CEO of Alibaba, noted, “The pandemic has fundamentally altered our macroeconomic environment and everyday life, but it has also introduced new opportunities. … and we are confident that we can create Alibaba’s future by capitalizing on the opportunities in this challenging environment [.]” As the pandemic broke out, it had changed the way people shop in China greatly, bringing them to the world of online shopping, and indirectly helped Tmall’s sales growth on singles’ day.

Live streaming

Live streaming e-commerce has become the fastest-growing area of China’s internet in recent years. During the outbreak of COVID-19, people have a tendency to shop online, so live streaming provides a stay-at-home sales model. Top anchors like Viya and Li Jiaqi have both started their first live streaming on the first day of Double 11. Only the night alone, they generated 1.2 billion U.S. dollars altogether. During the whole Double 11 festival, over 30 anchors generated more than 15 billion U.S dollars in total. Cosmetics stood out among all types of goods as 12 cosmetic products each recorded more than 15 million U.S dollars sales in the first hour. Live streaming indeed plays an important role in enticing price-sensitive customers with better shopping experiences. It not only creates more fun and engagement for Chinese consumers, but also creates a whole new shopping trend.