Alibaba posts $1 billion in sales in 5 minutes on Singles’ Day

Just two hours after it had kicked off, the total sales from Alibaba’s online platforms had already surpassed $7 billion, about half of last year’s total.

November 11, 2016, 3:54 p.m. SGT Alibaba has broken last year’s sales record for Singles’ Day.

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An Admaster survey has 71 percent of respondents stating that they will take advantage of the sales this year, a drop from last year’s 84 percent.

Apparel and footwear, which accounted for 21% of all sales previous year, are expected to gain a stronger foothold among consumers.

China Railway has launched an “E-Commerce Golden Week” service to facilitate express services for couriers from Nov 11 to 20.

Aibaba is set to smash records again on its annual ‘Singles Day’ or 11.11 sale, according to Declan Kearney, managing director of Clavis Insight APAC, which is supplying live data throughout the day. Singles’ Day is a big deal for savvy shoppers.

Pop star Katy Perry has called off an appearance at Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s 11.11. The uptick is likely to be driven in part by Hong Kong and Taiwan adopting the event for the first time, as well as purchases made by China’s growing rural middle class.

Fung Global expects sales of British brands to surge this year, driven by a tailwind from Chinese online shoppers’ demands for overseas goods, said Telegraph. “Many foreign brands, with and without local China presence, will use this shopping event to further raise their brand profile with Chinese consumers”. “Our partnership with Tmall is focused on delivering the best of wireless and premium sound to the tech-savvy, innovation-loving Chinese audience”, said Luke Wood, president of Beats by Dr. Dre, in a recent Tmall press meeting.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into the company’s accounting methods, with a particular eye to how it calculates its Singles Day sales.

Alibaba is not the only retailer to mark November 11 with a massive sales drive. The date signifies being single as the number 1 does.

The online aggregator of luxury brands and deals introduced the power of the shopping event to USA luxury retailers in 2013.