Alibaba sees 26% jump in Singles' Day sales to US$38.4bn

Alibaba Group has hit US$38.4 billion of gross merchandise volume (GMV) for its recent 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, a 26% increase compared to 2018. This year saw more than 200,000 brands participate and a million new products launched on Singles' Day.

The top five countries selling to China through its cross-border platforms by GMV were Japan, the US, South Korea, Australia and Germany. Meanwhile, over 299 brands surpassed US$14.3 million and 15 of those brands exceeded US$143.0 million in GMV. They included?Apple, Bose, Est?e Lauder, Gap, H&M, L?Or?al, Levi?s, MUJI, Nestl?, Nike, Philips, The North Face, Under Armour, and Uniqlo. Alibaba's logistics arm Cainiao Network processed 1.3 billion delivery orders.

Around the?15 hours and 57 minutes mark on Singles' Day, Alibaba's GMV exceeded US$30 billion. As of 10 am yesterday, over 50% of merchants on Tmall had used live-streaming to sell products on Singles' Day.?Home decoration and consumer electronics categories saw more than 400% year-on-year growth in GMV generated through live-streaming in the first ten hours of 11.11.

Meanwhile as of noon on 11 November, the top 10 countries buying from Mainland China by GMV were Hong Kong, the US, Taiwan, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, UK, and Macau. More impressively within the first hour of Singles's Day, Alibaba hit US$12.0 billion in GMV, more than 43 minutes faster than last year.?In the 68 seconds, the company saw a GMV of about US$1 billion.

?Today we showed the world what the future of consumption looks like for brands and consumers,? said Fan Jiang, president of Taobao and Tmall. He added that the company is meeting the growing demand of Chinese consumers and helping them upgrade their lifestyles, while introducing new users to its digital economy from across China and around the world.

(Read also:?Why live-streaming is the new frontier for revenue growth this Singles? Day)