Online shoppers in China drive record sales on Singles Day

Chinese Culture

Alibaba's Singles' Day sales hits new record of 200 billion yuanAlibaba’s Singles’ Day sales hits new record of 200 billion yuan

Online shoppers in China have shattered last year’s record of $24 billion in sales on the country’s annual buying frenzy Sunday, as the tradition marked its 10th year.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said that as of 10:28 BJT on Sunday its transaction volume hit a new record of 200 billion yuan, or 28.75 billion US dollars, as this year’s Singles’ Day shopping spree comes to an end.

During last year’s event, sales reached 168.2 billion yuan (24.1 billion U.S. dollars) in the one-day event. That number was surpassed at 15:49 BJT on Sunday.

CGTN’s Wang Qi-Wei reports.

Dan McClory on China’s Singles’ Day shopping frenzy

This year marks the tenth Singles’ Day or Double Eleven shopping bonanza in China, and it is projected to be Alibaba’s largest ever. The sales surpassed 10 billion yuan (1.4 billion U.S. dollars) on Alibaba’s online e-commerce platform Tmall in a mere of two minutes and five seconds, beating last year’s record of three minutes and 57 seconds.

China’s 10th Singles’ Day: Shopping craze that influences the world

At 1: 47: 26 a.m. of November 11, Tmall sales skyrocketed to 100 billion yuan (14.3 billion US dollars), seven hours earlier than the same transaction volume in 2017 and beating 91.2 billion yuan (13.1 billion US dollars) the full-day turnover made on the same day of 2015.

As of 9:24 a.m., Shanghai tops the list for cities with the highest sales on Tmall, followed by Beijing, Hangzhou and Guangzhou.

Tmall’s total transaction volume is now being keenly watched as it to some extent offers wider insight into the world’s second-largest economy’s consumption power and retail health.

Major e-commerce players from the likes of JD.com and Suning have all scrambled to take a bite of the siren-like online shopping market, with assorted promotional activities and special offers launched.