Tmall Double 11 has unlocked a new trillion-yuan market.
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Author | Huang Yu
Editor | Wang Xiaojuan
In the blink of an eye, Double 11 has reached its 17th year. This business symbol, which has long since become a totem of Chinese consumer vitality, has now also lost its "thrill" of the peak period. Shedding its past halo, as the initiator of Double 11, Alibaba is telling a new story in e-commerce.
At the Tmall Double 11 press conference on October 16, Alibaba's Taotian Group revealed the core transformation for this year's Double 11: it is no longer just an e-commerce sales frenzy, but the first large-scale real-world exercise at the historic intersection of the "Big Consumption Era" and "Full AI Implementation" strategies.
This Double 11 has been defined by three "firsts": the first Double 11 of the Big Consumption era, the first Double 11 with full participation of Taobao Flash Sale, and the first Double 11 with full implementation of AI.
As the traffic dividend in the e-commerce industry peaks and pure price wars are hard to sustain, Taotian Group has chosen to bet on AI, attempting to use technology to reconstruct efficiency and experience, to find a new growth equation for the platform, brands, and hundreds of millions of consumers.
At the same time, this year’s Double 11 is Taobao’s first Double 11 since upgrading from an e-commerce platform to a big consumption platform, fully realizing the integration of "far-field" e-commerce and "near-field" instant retail. This incremental space is enormous.
Chu Duan, President of the Taobao Platform under Alibaba China E-Commerce, said that in the coming years, Taobao Flash Sale will bring trillions in new growth, becoming an important new source of business growth for brands.
This consumer festival that started in the golden autumn is evolving into a commercial model rehearsal driven by AI and big consumption. Behind this is Taotian’s determination and ambition to break through and achieve greater growth amid fierce market competition.
AI Becomes the Breakthrough Point of Double 11
After Alibaba made "AI-driven" its core strategy nearly two years ago, its biggest e-commerce event has finally fully rolled out AI.
Tmall President Jialuo pointed out that this year’s Double 11 is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Its core driving force has shifted from pure traffic and discounts to deep operational capabilities based on AI and long-term data insights.
"The platform no longer simply pursues 'traffic floods', but uses technological upgrades to help brands achieve more accurate user identification, more efficient private-domain operations, and full integration of online and offline, thus finding a sustainable growth engine amid a diversified e-commerce landscape."
Reportedly, during this year’s Double 11 full cycle, Tmall will issue 50 billion yuan in consumer vouchers to subsidize users, with some vouchers distributed by the AI "Smart Benefit Engine." Data from the pilot phase showed that the conversion rate for vouchers distributed by the AI engine increased by 15% over previous methods, allowing consumption subsidies to be more accurately targeted.
Currently, merchants operating on Tmall can achieve end-to-end AI-ification, covering most processes from business analytics, product operations, material creation, to user management; at the same time, Tmall flagship stores have been upgraded to 3.0 "smart mode," aggregating four major centers: shelf, brand, membership, and services—using AI to sense user needs in real time, providing personalized displays and services for each customer.
In other words, in the past, AI was more of an embellishment at the marketing level, but this year, it has become the underlying infrastructure driving Taobao’s platform operation.
In the words of Taobao Tmall Marketing GM Mushan: This Double 11, AI on Taobao is absolutely not just a gimmick. "AI products have already been deeply applied to every shopping scenario for consumers, enabling a two-way rush between consumer demand and quality branded products."
According to Mushan, on the first day of Tmall Double 11 pre-sales (October 15), AI exploded with tremendous momentum, with over 15 billion calls to the platform’s AI large models; both merchants and consumers were enthusiastically using various AI tools on the platform.
Behind the truly "useful" AI is the AI R&D investment Taobao Tmall has made this year. Reportedly, the platform’s computing power has increased 40-fold, with the perception window for user behavior sequences extended from half a year to ten years, greatly improving the accuracy of product recommendations and boosting purchase efficiency by 25%.
Jialuo pointed out that this year’s "Double 11" is not just a moment of national celebration, but a starting point for new growth. Tmall will bet on AI to upgrade product capabilities, combine algorithms to reinvest in core users, support quality brands in achieving quality upgrades, and open up brand new growth opportunities for brands.
Against this background, in the first hour after the Tmall Double 11 pre-sale started, 35 brands broke the 100 million threshold in sales, 1,802 brands doubled their transaction volume, with the numbers of billion-level brands, doubled brands, and active users all exceeding those of the same period last year.
Big Consumption Goes All Out
If AI is the technology base for this year's Tmall Double 11, then the "big consumption platform" strategy is the top-level commercial model design.
This April, Alibaba upgraded its instant retail business "Hourly Delivery" under Taotian to "Taobao Flash Sale," competing with JD.com and Meituan for the instant retail market; in June, Fliggy and Ele.me were integrated into Alibaba China E-Commerce; in July, Freshippo was incorporated into Taobao's primary traffic interface; soon after, Fliggy was also integrated into Taobao’s main traffic interface.
In August, Taobao launched a brand-new mega membership system, connecting Ele.me, Fliggy, Amap, and others.
The ultimate goal behind these moves is singular: to integrate all of Alibaba's consumer businesses and upgrade Taobao strategically from an "e-commerce platform" to a "big consumption platform".
Against this background, Taobao ushered in its first Double 11 after upgrading to a big consumption platform, which will also bring merchants more room for growth.
According to data provided by Taobao, 53 million 88VIP members, 300 million monthly flash sale users, and 1 billion mega members will provide brands with the highest-value, most extensive, and most frequent user groups; the integration of instant retail and e-commerce will also open a trillion-level new incremental market.
Mushan stated that this year’s Double 11 is the first to fully merge near- and far-field e-commerce, bringing an unprecedentedly consistent online and offline experience. For brands, this is a Double 11 with comprehensive product supply, price management, and consistency in experience between e-commerce and offline stores.
It is reported that during this Double 11, Tmall and Taobao Flash Sale are working in deep coordination; brand flagship stores can connect to Taobao Flash Sale, integrating online and offline, launching a "near-far as one" operation. The first batch already includes 37,000 brands and 400,000 stores in Flash Sale, covering major industry leaders such as Apple, Huawei, Uniqlo, and Decathlon.
At the same time, this year's Tmall Double 11 has seen the largest investment in history, with 50 billion yuan in consumer voucher subsidies for users throughout the cycle. Not only can they be used on Tmall products, but brands that have opened Taobao Flash Sale can also apply Double 11 discounts and 88VIP consumption vouchers.
Taobao Flash Sale also achieved good results in the early stage of Double 11. According to Wallstreetcn, on the first day alone, 8 million users participated in activities through "Flash Sale Free Orders"; order volumes from 88VIP members and order users in the Flash Sale channel have both increased significantly.
Today’s Double 11 is no longer just a marketing event pursuing GMV numbers, but a commercial transformation powered by AI, online and offline integration, and joint participation by platforms and brands. In this transformation, Taotian is going all out, trying to give its own answer to the era’s call for "bigger growth."
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