The 2020 Double 11 shopping festival generated 498.2 billion yuan ($74.1 billion) in gross merchandise volume (GMV) during the 11-day campaign from Nov. 1 to 11, up 26 percent from 2019, the Alibaba Group announced today.

(Photo: Alibaba)

Over 470 brands achieved more than 100 million yuan in GMV, showcasing the value creation of digital transformation across the Alibaba Digital Economy.

The Alibaba digital infrastructure handled 583,000 orders per second during peak of activity, demonstrating the strength and scale of our underlying technology platform.

Cainiao Network processed more than 2.32 billion delivery orders cumulatively over the 11-day period.

Livestreaming has become an indispensable marketing tool, with over 30 livestreaming channels featured on Taobao Live that each generated more than 100 million yuan in GMV.

A total of 250,000 brands participated in the shopping festival this year, of which 31,000 are overseas brands. Of these overseas brands, 2,600 participated in 11.11 for the first time.

The United States was the top country selling to China by GMV. Other top-selling countries to China include: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and the UK.

The Double 11 shopping festival began in 2009 with participation from just 27 merchants as an event for merchants and consumers to raise awareness about the value of online shopping.