Alibaba Singles Day sales top $30 billion

SHANGHAI: China’s biggest e-commerce company said sales topped $30 billion over a 24-hour period Sunday, soaring past last year’s record of about $24 billion.

Singles day sale is known as 11:11 or ‘Double 11’ is the world biggest online sales event.

The company settled roughly 69 billion yuan (9.92 billion USD) in just four hours on sunday.

approxmetly 21% increased compared to last year. Items selling well includes Smartphones and other electronics items.

Alibaba Singles Day

“With an increasing number of promotion events a year, consumers no longer feel that Double 11 is the only opportunity to get good bargains,” said Pedro Yip, partner at consulting firm Oliver Wyman.

“Having said that, there are more consumers who still enjoy shopping at double 11 than those that don’t,” he said.

“We will, for sure, continue to evolve and continue to be innovative,” said Zhang. “I think, going forward, people’s lifestyles will change with the development of new technologies and business models.”

Alibaba kicked off this year’s sales with a gala event that featured US singer Mariah Carey, a Japanese Beyonce impersonator and a shoe-shopping-themed Cirque du Soleil performance.

This year, Alibaba said there were around 180,000 brands participating in Singles’ Day, and as of 8:00 pm on Sunday sales were nearing $27 billion