Singles’ Day 2025 — What the World Is Buying on 11.11

Published: November 8th, 2025
Written by: Editorial Team

Electronics, sportswear and beauty brands were among the early beneficiaries of Singles’ Day 2025 promotions. Home appliances and health products also featured in a campaign that began in October, well before November 11.

The world’s biggest shopping day returns

The 2025 festival was already underway when this article was first published on November 8. JD.com began its promotion on October 9. Alibaba announced the start of its festival on October 15, with the Taobao and Tmall checkout period beginning on October 20.

The early reports covered different campaign windows. Their figures describe activity on individual platforms, rather than a final worldwide sales total.

1. Electronics & smart devices

During the first two hours of checkout, iPhone sales through Apple’s official Tmall flagship exceeded the previous campaign’s entire first-day total, according to Alibaba’s October 24 update, revised on October 28.

Products passing RMB10 million in first-hour gross merchandise value included:

AirPods 4 and Apple Watch Series 11
iQOO 15 and Xiaomi 17 Pro Max
Nintendo Switch consoles

2. Fashion & sneakers

FILA crossed RMB100 million in GMV within six minutes of checkout opening. Nike, lululemon, adidas, Anta, Camel and Descente followed within half an hour, Alibaba reported.

The results showed an early response across several sportswear brands. They covered the opening stage on Taobao and Tmall.

3. Beauty & skincare: livestream shopping

Eight beauty brands passed RMB100 million in less than ten minutes on Taobao and Tmall. The same Alibaba update recorded double-digit first-hour growth for SK-II, Clarins and Clé de Peau Beauté.

Brand-operated livestreaming formed part of the broader campaign. Alibaba’s October 28 update reported nearly 50 brand-run channels exceeding RMB10 million in sales during the week of October 20. That figure covered brand-operated channels across categories.

4. Home tech & smart living

In its October 14 campaign update, JD.com reported that orders across home appliances, smartphones, digital devices and computers had risen more than 70% year over year. The update covered activity through noon on October 14.

Physical stores also participated. JD.com reported 123% year-over-year growth in home categories at its offline JD MALL stores. The figure describes that retail network’s performance within the campaign.

5. Wellness & fitness

Wellness was a broader consumer trend entering the festival. McKinsey’s May 2025 Future of Wellness research surveyed more than 9,000 consumers in the US, the UK, Germany and China.

The research described younger consumers buying a wider range of discretionary wellness products, including:

Health-tracking devices
Massage tools
Fitness, beauty and mindfulness apps

This provides context for the category’s retail appeal, rather than a ranking of Singles’ Day purchases.

Global impact: retail’s digital-physical convergence

In an October 29 report announcement, Bain & Company said Taobao was preparing simultaneous Singles’ Day promotions in 20 countries. The expansion brought local customer preferences, established competitors and fulfilment requirements into the campaign.

Duration also matters when comparing results. Bain’s analysis put 2024 Singles’ Day GMV at RMB1.442 trillion, up 27%, while noting that the promotional period had expanded from 11 to 28 days. The longer window accounted for much of the headline increase.

For 2025, the early platform reports showed activity across multiple categories and channels. A comparable global result required a defined reporting period and consistent coverage.

What it means for retail & malls

Compare equivalent periods. First-hour GMV and campaign-to-date orders describe different stages of demand.
Measure the store contribution separately. Platform sales, physical-store sales and shopping-center visits need their own reporting.
Make promotional terms clear. Shoppers need to know which products, channels and dates an offer covers, including stock limits and collection arrangements.