Taobao and Tmall, the retail platforms operated by Alibaba Group, reported strong performance during this year’s 11.11 Shopping Festival. The event, also known as Singles’ Day, saw significant growth in gross merchandise value (GMV) for brands of various sizes.
“We achieved Tmall’s strongest 11.11 growth in GMV net of refunds in four years,” said Bo Liu, President of Tmall. “This success reflects our focus on empowering high-quality brands and original IP merchants, supported by our largest-ever investment to deepen consumer engagement.”
Nearly 600 brands surpassed RMB100 million in sales by midnight on November 14. Major brands with sales exceeding RMB1 billion included Apple, Haier, Midea, Yeswood, Xiaomi, FILA, Laopu Gold, CAMEL, Huawei and Nike. In total, 34,091 brands doubled their sales compared to last year’s festival; among them were over 18,000 brands whose sales grew more than threefold and over 13,000 that increased by more than five times.
Emerging brands launched on Tmall within the past five years also performed well: 406 led their respective sub-categories during the event. Of these newer entrants, 26 exceeded RMB100 million in sales while another 188 surpassed RMB10 million. Additionally, more than 14,000 new products each generated at least RMB1 million in sales; about a third of items with sales above RMB100 million were new launches.
Tmall’s integration with other Alibaba services contributed to higher transaction volumes. Brands using the “Taobao Instant Commerce” channel saw daily average on-demand orders rise nearly twofold compared to September levels. Fliggy—Alibaba’s travel platform—reported over 30% growth in GMV net of refunds due to cross-platform synergies.
The festival also drove membership engagement. Daily active buyers among Taobao and Tmall’s premium “88VIP” members rose by almost a third year-over-year within a group now exceeding 53 million people. Brands’ flagship stores collectively added around 145 million new loyalty members during the shopping period.
Artificial intelligence played a notable role this year. The AI Business Advisor tool produced over five million analytical reports since October to help merchants prepare for and manage the campaign; surveys indicated it improved operational efficiency by about one-and-a-half times for users. Dianxiaomi—the AI-powered customer service assistant—handled approximately 300 million queries throughout the festival period; merchants using AI-driven support tools saw conversion rates increase by nearly a third from last year.
The annual shopping event began in 2009 with participation from just a few dozen merchants as an effort to promote online commerce awareness among consumers and sellers alike. More information about this year’s festival can be found at https://www.alizila.com/