A little wonder, every day

Singles’ Day became the 11.11 global shopping festival

FukaiNashi, Nanjing University Gulou campus, photographed 2015; Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0. Modern campus context only; not identified as the dormitory or location of the alleged 1993 origin. No edits. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nanjing_University,_Gulou_Campus.jpg

Nature42, Alibaba/Tmall Double 11 full-day transaction-volume chart, created 12 November 2016; Wikimedia Commons CC0 1.0. Historical chart; it does not support the 2018 figure in the text. No edits. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2009-2016%E5%B9%B4%E9%98%BF%E9%87%8C%E5%B7%B4%E5%B7%B4%E5%8F%8C%E5%8D%81%E4%B8%80%E5%85%A8%E5%A4%A9%E4%BA%A4%E6%98%93%E9%A2%9D%E5%8F%98%E5%8C%96.png

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FukaiNashi, Nanjing University Gulou campus, photographed 2015; Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0. Modern campus context only; not identified as the dormitory or location of the alleged 1993 origin. No edits. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nanjing_University,_Gulou_Campus.jpg

Listen to fact0:00 / —

Singles’ Day is associated with Nanjing University and 1993, but this widely repeated origin story has not been independently verified: a university-hosted report says alumni representatives could not identify the people involved. Alibaba turned 11 November into a major online shopping sale in 2009 and later called it the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival. In 2018, the company reported 213.5 billion yuan (US$30.8 billion) in gross merchandise volume (GMV) over 24 hours. That is the value of orders on specified platforms, not Alibaba’s revenue or profit.