On Nov 11, reporters learned from Alibaba's cross-border e-commerce platform AliExpress that in the first seven days of this year's overseas Double 11 shopping festival, daily GMV in potential country markets outside its main markets jumped more than 50% year on year. Over the same period, merchants using the AI-powered operations Agent saw daily GMV grow nearly 70% year on year. Potential markets across South America, Europe, Southeast Asia and Africa all grew, with Colombia, Peru, Switzerland and Norway performing strongly.
Orders surge in niche markets, with several places joining Double 11 for the first time
AliExpress data shows that some niche markets that usually receive little attention showed strong consumer enthusiasm this Double 11. Buyers in the Falkland Islands placed an average of 5.5 orders each during the promotion; Svalbard, inside the Arctic Circle, recorded its first orders, with toys and figurines the most-purchased items; shoppers in Cape Verde bought mostly auto parts and beauty and health products; and GMV doubled in both Mali and Norway.
These orders are adding up to a new growth engine. AliExpress said merchants have long known the platform can "sell globally from one store," but actually capturing orders requires handling different languages, logistics, pricing and promotion rules, and many merchants with limited manpower have chosen to delay expansion.
AI Agent takes over operations, merchant daily GMV up nearly 70%
This year, AliExpress launched an AI operations Agent for potential country markets, handing such operational chores to AI. Once merchants enable it with one click, the system can automatically optimize product detail pages, sign up for campaigns, match logistics routes and provide AI customer service, enabling merchants to generate orders automatically in potential markets. During Double 11, merchants using AI operations management saw daily GMV grow nearly 70% year on year.
AI not only reduces merchants' workload and improves efficiency, but also uses algorithms to identify the sales potential of managed products, providing more targeted traffic subsidies and placement support for products with growth opportunities, helping merchants precisely direct traffic and generate orders faster.
Localized services keep improving, Choice covers most potential markets
Behind this growth is AliExpress's continued work to fill gaps in logistics, payment and localized services in potential country markets. According to the head of AliExpress's potential markets business, Choice services now cover the vast majority of potential markets, allowing local consumers to enjoy corresponding delivery times and service guarantees.
AliExpress also offers 32 localized language services in markets including Vietnam, Norway, Tanzania and Serbia, and has integrated more than 10 local wallets to improve payment convenience. In the future, the platform will promote local-currency payment in more countries, making it smoother for consumers to fill in addresses and complete payments.
Platform strategy: branding, localization and AI
At this year's AliExpress Double 11 launch event, AliExpress President Jingshi said branding, localization and AI are the platform's core priorities this year. On the first day of Double 11 sales, GMV of branded products on AliExpress jumped 200% year on year, with branded goods accounting for more than 50% of GMV for the first time, and a group of new million-dollar brands emerged; orders from overseas official warehouses rose 9-fold from the previous period, and the share of local GMV in the EU has exceeded 60%.
From main markets to more potential countries, AliExpress is using AI capabilities and country-specific fine-grained operations to lower the cost for merchants to expand into new markets, helping more Chinese products win overseas orders.
Going forward, the results of scaling AI Agents in cross-border e-commerce operations, and progress on localized capabilities such as local-currency payment, are worth watching.