It then extended the sale to Alibaba’s other consumer shopping sites, including the mainstream marketplace Taobao.
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Ma made his comments on China’s Singles Day, known as the world’s biggest 24-hour online shopping event.
ReutersEmployees sort packages at a hub of an express delivery company in Nantong, Jiangsu province, following Singles Day in 2012.Alibaba entered the game in 2009, and within three years, Singles’ Day had become the biggest 24-hour shopping event in the world.
In an annual shopping event that kicked off on the stroke of midnight in China on Wednesday morning, Alibaba has reported in excess of $1 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) transactions in the first 8 minutes, and $5 billion in the first 90 minutes.
The holiday has quickly turned into a homegrown Chinese answer to Black Friday. The idea is that if you’re single, you have no commitments (at least not as far as a partner or kids are concerned) meaning that you should “celebrate” by going spending on things that you want.
A little over 12 hours after the promotion’s start, sales had already outstripped last year’s $9.3bn record. In 2014, the company generated over $9.3 billion in total sales, more than four times the $2.4 billion sold on Cyber Monday, the biggest online sale in U.S.
Approximately 100 million people are expected to shop on Singles’ Day, the majority between 20 and 40 years-old, who will be shopping from their computers all across the country.
Many big-name companies, such as Estée Lauder and Burberry, were participating in the sales event this year. “The whole world will witness the power of Chinese consumption this November 11”, said Daniel Zhang, Alibaba’s chief executive officer. The firm said over 27 million purchases came via mobile devices in the first hour. According to China’s government figures, in all, Singles Day will generate $760 million in shipments.
This year Alibaba has engaged in an ambitious plan for global expansion in an effort to provide more foreign goods for eager Chinese customers.
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Surging retail sales have been a bright spot in China’s recent growth story with factory output growth slowing.
