Double 11 sales bonanza: Swisse retains best-selling supplement spot on Tmall

This year’s Double 11 sales ended with a gross merchandise volume (GMV) of US$38.4bn generated, 26% up from last year.

More than 200,000 brands participated, with one million new products launched in the highly-anticipated online shopping event.

According to data from Tmall, half of the top 10 most purchased imported brands by the Chinese consumers were health and dietary supplement products.

Data shows that Swisse, the Australian-created but now Chinese-owned brand, was the most purchased imported dietary supplement brand, retaining the same position as last year.

However, in terms of the top 10 most purchased imported brands by Chinese consumers overall, it fell from the 1^st to the 2^nd place this year, trailing behind YA-MAN, a beauty device brand from Japan.

In response to queries from NutraIngredients-Asia, a spokeswoman at Swisse said that the firm’s sales across key e-commerce platforms, namely Tmall International, JD.com, Kaola, and VIP, surpassed RMB$180m (US$25.7m), 30% up from last year.

Other health and dietary supplement brands which made it into the list include Bio Island owned by Sydney-based firm JBX. Similar to last year, it came in at the 5^th spot.  

Aptamil, an infant milk formula brand by Danone Nutricia, slid from the 4^th to 6^th spot.

New Zealand’s a2 also dropped from the 6^th to the 8^th spot, while US dietary supplement brand Childlife managed to squeeze into the 10^th place.

Aside from Childlife, all the other four brands were amongst the 299 brands with GMV surpassing RMB$100m (US$14.3m).

Also in the nutrition business, MNC Nestlé was the only food and nutrition firm to rank amongst the top 15 brands with GMV surpassing the RMB$1bn (US$143m). 

Japan, the US, Korea, Australia, and Germany were the top five countries selling to China by GMV.

Chinese brands

As for China’s homegrown supplement brands, BY-HEALTH, alongside edible bird’s nest brands Yan Palace and Xiao Xian Dun also surpassed the RMB$100m GMV mark.

Russia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the US, and Australia were the top five countries or regions purchasing from China in terms of GMV.

“Today we showed the world what the future of consumption looks like for brands and consumers,” said Fan Jiang, president of Taobao and Tmall.

“We are meeting the growing demand of Chinese consumers and helping them upgrade their lifestyles, while introducing new users to our digital economy from across China and around the world.”

Top 10 most purchased imported brands by the Chinese consumers (by GMV)

1. YA-MAN
2. Swisse
3. KAO
4. A.H.C
5. Bio Island
6. Aptamil
7. Moony
8. a2
9. Elta MD
10. Childlife

*Highlighted are the dietary supplement and infant nutrition brands