The e-commerce powerhouse took in over $30.8 billion during the day, shattering last year’s record holder in both yuan and dollar terms.
The 11th of November, or “Singles Day” as it is commonly known, sees millions of Chinese consumers place large online orders at heavy discounts across Alibaba’s various e-commerce platforms. At just half 5:30 pm China time, the total sales value for the day moved past last year’s $25.3 billion sum, according to CNBC.
In renminbi terms, total sales totalled Rmb 213.5 billion – a 27% jump from Rmb 168.2 billion in 2017. The growth, nevertheless, was slower than the 39% rise between 2016 and 2017.
Sales reached $1 billion in the first two minutes of the day, surpassing $10 billion after an hour. Over one billion delivery orders were placed on Sunday.
Alibaba used the event to draw attention to its pioneering “new retail” concept, which places a greater emphasis on technology and personalised customer experiences while shopping.
“When we talk about new retail, we strongly believe that online commercial world and offline brick mortars are not separate worlds,” CEO Daniel Zhang told CNBC. “It’s all about how to innovate online and offline to a whole digitalised commercial world.”
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