Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall claim their 11.11 festival was a huge success

Alibaba Group's Taobao and Tmall have "successfully" concluded their 15th annual 11.11 Shopping Festival. As reported by the Chinese group, during the campaign, Taobao and Tmall recorded positive year-on-year growth in gross merchandise value (GMV), number of orders, and participating merchants compared to the same period in 2022.

"Taobao and Tmall's strong performance reflects the success of our user-centric strategy, which focuses on competitive pricing, diverse content offerings, and AI-powered technologies that further optimized consumer and merchant experiences during the campaign," said Trudy Dai, chief executive officer of Taobao and Tmall. "Brand membership programs continued to play a pivotal role in this year's 11.11, highlighting our capabilities to support sellers in fostering sustainable consumer loyalty and long-term business opportunities," the director added.

According to the company, competitively priced offerings drove sales growth. Specifically, on November 11, a total of 402 brands exceeded 100 million Chinese renminbi (RMB) on GMV each - over 12 million euros - while 38,000 brands achieved year-on-year growth of more than 100%. The direct discount outlet offering a 15% price reduction recorded 210 million orders during the period, while the outlet with products from value-for-money manufacturers generated nearly 90 million orders.

It is also worth noting that on the same day, 38 online streaming channels operated by sellers generated more than RMB100 million in GMV each, accounting for more than 60% of the channels with more than RMB100 million. Meanwhile, 451 vendor-operated channels recorded more than RMB10 million. 

Aliexpress battle with the EU rages on

Meanwhile, the EU keeps pressuring Alibaba Group, now via Aliexpress. The European Commission has requested clarifications from AliExpress, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group. Brussels is asking AliExpress to provide more information on the measures it has taken to comply with obligations related to risk assessment and mitigation measures to protect online consumers, including for counterfeit medicines. The company will have three weeks to explain.

Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said, "The Digital Services Act is not limited to issues such as hate speech, disinformation or cyberbullying. It also ensures the removal of illegal or unsafe products sold in the EU through e-commerce platforms, including the growing number of fake and potentially dangerous medicines and pharmaceuticals sold online."