Data:
The GMV of 11.11 2018 was 213.5b RMB, up 27% YoY
Sales of nutrition and health food products were up 227% from 2017
93.6% of all purchases were made using a mobile phone
Top 5 exporting countries in descending order were Japan, US, South Korea, Australia and Germany
The number of individual orders was over 1b
11.11 refers to the 11th of November, a date which is now indelibly etched into China’s and the world’s history books as the largest 24hr shopping event ever. On 11.11 all of China’s largest ecommerce platforms offer unimaginable bargains, cash giveaways, spot prizes and much more, enticing China’s netizens to engage in a mass purchasing activity on a scale that has to be seen to be believed. 
In 2018 11·11 festival, which concluded at 00:00 am on Nov. 12, registered a scarcely believable gross sales figure of 213.5 billion RMB (30.71b USD), up 27% YOY compared to 2017. The figure is calculated by adding up the sales volume of Alibaba China retail platforms (including Taobao.com, Tmall, ju.taobao.com, flight ticket, train ticket, insurance), AliExpress and LAZADA. The number of orders topped 1billion in a single day for the first time in history. Other platforms, JD.com, Suning and Kaola.com also made record sales.
New Retail Landscape
11.11 data reveals some interesting China trends:
Purchase globally: over 19,000 overseas brands covering around 3900 categories from 75 countries/regions participated in this event. Alibaba is planning to invest $200b in importation strategy in the future.
Sell globally: Overseas B2C giants LAZADA and Daraz made a big impact. 140 thousand Tmall retailers and millions of Taobao retailers sold their goods abroad to consumers in more than 200 countries/regions.
Pay globally: Alipay serviced 0.92b people, bKash, easypaisa, GCash and DANA, four localized versions of Alipay were put into service during 11·11 for the first time.
Transport globally: Over a million square meters of bounded warehouse were used and goods were transporter to every corner of the world by air, land and sea
Travel globally: 2m travel products, flight ticket service across 200+ countries/regions, 250 thousand hotels and 8000 scenic spots in Alitrip.com.
New Consumption Hot Spots
n Tmall.com
Statistics from Tmall reveal that the top 5 popular exporting countries/regions, brands and overseas products:
Most popular countries/regions
Most popular brands: swisse, KAO, moony, Aptamil, Dr. Ci. Labo
Most popular imported goods: health foods, facial mask, facial skin serum, milk powder, diapers, skin lotion, infant nutrition food, and other kinds of skin care products
Consumers prefers to buy imported infant foods and health foods. By 9:00 am of 11.11, sales of nutrition and healthcare products was up 225% compared to the same period in 2017.
By contrast, top exported Chinese goods were clothes and electrical appliances.
n Other platforms
Apart from Alibaba’s, other platforms such as Kaola, JD and Vipshop joined in, highlights were:
Kaola official list of popular goods: makeup, maternal and infant products, health and nutrition products, personal care products, digital and electrical appliances, light luxuries, clothes, outdoor sports fittings, etc.
JD top 5 popular goods by transaction volume: mobile phone, conditioner, lap top, flat screen TV, computer for games;
JP top 5 popular goods by quantity: snacks, shampoo, dress, bakery, toothpaste.
Vipshop popular goods in first hour: facial care products, female and male clothes, makeup.
Magnificent Logistical Support
On Nov. 11, over 1b individual orders were made, up from 0.812b in 2017, placing massive stress on China’s logistics industry, which has more than matched the great responsibilities placed on it by China’s ecommerce giants and eager consumers. Anecdotes about deliveries being made on the same day as the orders were placed are commonplace on China’s various forums and even more will be required of China’s logistic companies as follow on returns and replacements are made by consumers.
Read the problems of the shopping day here.
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