Alibaba Group has held its 13th annual 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, also known as Single’s Day, generating AU$115.8 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) during the 11-day campaign.

Tmall offered more than 14 million deals with a record 290,000 brands participating in the event making it the largest Shopping Festival to date, of which 65% were small and medium-sized businesses, manufacturers from industrial belts and new brands.

More than 1.3 million new products were offered by over 29,000 overseas brands that participated via Tmall Global this year, with some 2,800 overseas brands joining for the first time.

Almost half of consumers (45%) who made purchases were born in the 1990s or 2000s with the latter increasing by 25% year-over-year.

There was an increased emphasis on sustainability at this year’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival with half a million products carrying official Green Product Certification from more than 2,000 merchants that were featured in a dedicated eco-friendly vertical on Tmall.

Alibaba has increased the use of green technology, partnered with brands to lower carbon footprints, and utilised plastic-free, recyclable packaging. Alibaba’s logistics arm Cainiao Network has also introduced package recycling across 10,000 Cainiao Post Stations in 20 cities.

Alibaba Group also leveraged innovations in live streaming technology to create more engagement. Taobao Live will feature 700 leading KOLs, celebrities and brand representatives in livestream sessions. In addition, Taobao will roll out a new feature for users to share their “shopping cart” items with friends and family.  

To ensure the event was inclusive to all, Taobao introduced “senior mode,” a new feature designed to make the user interface more accessible for senior citizens. It offers voice-assisted technology, simplified navigation, larger font size and icons. The app homepage also offers games for elderly users to unlock special discounts for groceries.

Despite the accelerated growth in e-commerce during Covid-19, over one million packages were delivered by around 350 Xiaomanlv driverless vehicles from November 1 to 10, surpassing the volume of packages delivered by Xiaomanlv vehicles from September 2020 to September 2021.