For the uninitiated 11/11 is described in China as Singles Day. The date representing single people in Chinese characters. Alibaba has developed this day to create the biggest under reported Shopping Day of the year in the West. The numbers are simply staggering to quantify. Bear in mind when looking at the statistics that Black Friday in the US last year reached sales of $3 billion. It is a full online and in store day throughout the Alibaba group which has also now spilled over into other major companies in China and is now reaching out into the whole of the region.

Statistics from 2017 24 hours of trading

• 140,000 Different Brands participated including a growing number (60,000) from outside China listing 15 million Goods on TMall
• $1 bill Gross Market Value (GMV) in the first 2 minutes and one second
• First delivery completed of an order in 12 minutes 18 seconds
• $7 bill GMV in 30 minutes (Beating Black Friday & Cyber Monday 2016 combined)
• $10 bill GMV in 1 hour 6 minutes and 9 seconds
• Last year’s record of $17.8 bill GMS passed in 13 hours 9 minutes
• Last year’s record transactions of 657 million orders passed in 18 hours 49 minutes
• Closing GMV for this year of $25.3 bill which compares with 2016 $17.8 bill, 2015 $ 14.3 bill, 2014 $ 9.3 bill and 2013 $5.2 bill
• This year made up of 812 million orders and 1.48 bill transactions on those orders
• Payments processed at over 325,000 a second at peak utilising online and 100,000 smart stores which using facial recognition payments etc
• 90% of orders through a mobile device versus 82% in 2016 and 69% in 2015

This tells us a lot of the arrival of China as the dominant consumer nation whose influence is starting not only to change the shopping habits but also the launch process of major companies around the world. I suspect the main reason iphone 8 and X was launched in time alongside so many other tech goods. It also shows the dominance of hand held devices and why any consumer facing business needs to look at this as the way forward. It also shows the sophistication of the Wifi and internet in China to support such a day. The technology then to process and to deliver such distribution can only be marvelled at.

Any guess on the GMV for 2018?

I suspect in a few years’ time our children will be poised for the start of 11/11

Tags:   Business   Systems