The 11.11 Global Shopping Festival is entering its fifteenth year in 2023, growing from a five-hour promotion with 27 merchants into the world’s largest sales event.
Explore this journey by scrolling down to see a highlight from each year.
2009
The First 11.11
Alibaba launches 11.11 to help online merchants increase sales during a slow time of year. Brands generate over RMB50 million ($8 million) in GMV, as the Taobao employees pictured above are celebrating.
2012
11.11 Becomes Largest Online Shopping Event Globally
11.11 in 2012 sets a new global record for the largest value of goods purchases within 24 hours online, which had previously been held by Amazon’s Cyber Monday event. Logistics teams like the one above are instrumental in this effort.
2014
Speedy Payments Keep Pace with Demand
Alipay reaches a transaction-processing volume of 30,000 payments per second. Not bad.
2015
11.11 Sets 9 Guinness World Records
In addition to setting a record for the highest online sales revenue generated by a single company in 24 hours, Alibaba’s 11.11 in 2015 sets records for selling the most mobile phones, nuts, watches, milk, TVs, apples and cars by a single platform in one day.
2016
11.11 Immerses Shoppers with Tech-powered Experiences
Alibaba bridges online and offline to create immersive experiences for consumers, like a VR game called Catch the Tmall Cat. Millions of app users visit 30,000 participating stores to “catch” the mascot and claim prizes.
2017
Jessie J, Pharrell Wow 11.11 Countdown Gala
American songwriter and producer Pharrell Williams, and British musician Jessie J perform at Alibaba’s third annual 11.11 Countdown Gala.
2018
Cainiao Handles Over 1 Billion 11.11 Delivery Orders
Delivery orders handled by Cainiao Smart Logistics Network top 1 billion for the first time as the GMV for this year’s event eclipses sales during the Thanksgiving long-weekend in the US.
2019
Taylor Swift Headlines 11.11 Countdown Gala
Country and pop music superstar Taylor Swift takes to the gala stage to sing some of her biggest hits.
2020
AliExpress Launches Real-Time Livestream Translation for 11.11
AliExpress debuts the world’s first real-time livestreaming translation service on an e-commerce platform. It supports Chinese to English, Russian, Spanish and French, as well as English to Spanish, Russian and French.
2021
Lazada Rides 11.11 Wave
Over 800,000 sellers and brands participate in 11.11 Southeast Asian online marketplace Lazada, roughly a two-fold increase from 2020.
2023
Merchant Participation Reaches New Highs
The number of products, brands and merchants participating in 11.11 this year continues to set records, with over 80 million items set to be at their lowest price for the year. About 46,000 brands and merchants worldwide will promote overseas products.
