Alibaba hit another record high in sales at 15:49:39 during its yearly Singles' Day Shopping Gala, breaking last year's total Singles' Day sales of 168.2 billion yuan ($24.22 billion). And it finally hit 213.5 billion yuan ($30.7 billion) on Sunday, with full-day sales setting a new high.
Alibaba Group broke the 10 billion yuan sales line within the first two minutes and five seconds, after the e-commerce on Sunday giant kicked off the 10th year of its Double 11 shopping gala. The speed of the sales broke last year’s record of three minutes and one second, paving the way for an online shopping spree that the e-commerce giant envisions will be the largest ever in scale and reach.
Shoppers from home and abroad crowded Alibaba’s diverse arms, including the Tmall online site, Fliggy travel agency, as well as delivery service Ele.me, and scooped up everything from electronic devices and imported cosmetics to flight tickets and discounted food.
Alibaba hosted a star-studded gala on Saturday night in Shanghai, featuring superstar singer Mariah Carey and Cirque du Soleil to pump sales.
Pre-sales prior to the event were lively, with 33 brands on Tmall reporting 100 million-yuan worth of pre-orders. Down payments for consumer electronics on Tmall have jumped nearly six-fold year-on-year, with popular brands including Apple, Huawei, Siemens and Dyson.