While it was expected that Double 11 sales would again grow in 2015, you could say this year that sales just about exploded. According to figures published by China Internet Watch, the retail transactions in the 24 hours of the sale reached $US19.3 billion. Sales on Alibaba’s Tmall alone reached $US157 million in the first 72 seconds of the November 11 festival.
Here is a brief recap of this year’s Double 11 extravaganza.
Double 11 2015 stats and facts
Online giant Alibaba was a key initiator of Double 11. Here’s how the company performed this year.
- Just prior to the start of the festival this year, Alibaba ran a three hour-long TV special called ‘Tmall’s Double 11 Night Carnival’, with guests such as actors Kevin Spacey, Daniel Craig of 007 fame, and a number of well-known Chinese celebrities taking part.
- Within five minutes past the start of the sale at midnight, Alibaba sales had reached 4 billion yuan – around $US626 million. After another 20 minutes, this had grown to 17 billion yuan or $US2.6 billion.
- Alibaba sales for the 24 hours of the shopping festival totalled $US14.3 billion, representing 74% of Tmall’s total sales for 2015!
- More than 68% of sales were done via mobile.
- Transaction values were topped by Huawei – at $US187 million for 940,000 mobile phones.
- Of the top ten export countries, Australia ranked 5th behind the US, Japan, Korea, and Germany.
- Alibaba reported processing nearly 86,000 transactions per second.
The favourite products
Favoured items on Tmall included women’s and men’s clothing, mother care products, shoes, sports goods, mobile phones, furniture and home textiles, beauty products, appliances, and automobiles. Some of the top brands included:
- Men’s and women’s clothing – UNIQLO.
- Mother care – Balabala.
- Shoes – CAMEL.
- Sports – NIKE.
- Phones – Huawei.
- Appliances – Haier.
- Auto – Weyoo.
How did Double 11 get so big?
‘Singleness’ and dating are relatively new concepts in China. However with the influence of Western culture and the gender imbalance (119 boys born to every 100 girls) that has resulted from China’s one-child policy, activities such as speed-dating have been taken on.
Singles Day (originally Bachelors Day) also took hold in the 1990s as a day for singles to treat themselves and to reignite their hope of finding a life partner.
This in turn led to the Double 11 festival we see today – which began in 2009 and has been growing massively in terms of sales and popularity since that time.
Double 11 growth since 2009
According to China Internet Watch figures, when it started in 2009, the festival had only 27 online brands and reached sales of around $US8 million. Since that time, sales have grown. By 2013, the festival was worth $US5.72 billion.
At this rate, Double 11 doesn’t look like slowing down any time soon. Our China marketing team can help you get ready for Double 11 in 2016 – contact us to find out more and to get started.
