Singles' Day shoppers treat Alibaba to US$30.8 billion in sales

The unofficial Chinese holiday Singles’ Day has come and gone, with single shoppers treating themselves to some online (and offline) purchases. Internet retail giant Alibaba has enjoyed a bumper 24 hours thanks to fans of the notion of having a day to celebrate being single. US$1 billion was racked up in less than a minute-and-a-half, and apparently nearly US$10 billion was made within an hour of the promotion starting. The total sales amount for the day ended up being an estimated US$30.8 billion.

According to Alibaba, tech-related companies drummed up a significant amount of business for the special shopping day, which is also sometimes known as 11.11. Xiaomi, Apple, and Dyson were apparently the top three brands during the early phase of the sale. The Singles’ Day event was created by Daniel Zhang, who is now the CEO of Alibaba Group. It has been staggeringly successful and is believed to be the largest offline and online shopping day in the world.

Alibaba is rapidly catching up with other tech giants such as Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft, to challenge the current American domination of the sector. Companies like Alibaba and Tencent are flying the flag for China as the country continues to strengthen its grip on a number of global markets. Singles’ Day is held on an annual basis on 11.11 – the digit “1” signifies an individual and the number “11” apparently symbolizes people coming together…to buy stuff on Alibaba.

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