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world’s biggest shopping event

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Alibaba has set new sales records on November 11 for its biggest shopping day, the annual Singles Day.

The Chinese internet giant hit a record $1 billion in sales in 85 seconds, and then just shy of $10 billion in the first hour of the 24-hour spree.

In total, customers spent $30.8 billion, up 27% on last year, but the lowest annual increase in the history of Singles Day.

Online discounts have been offered on 11.11, Alibaba’s informal holiday for singles, since 2009.

Singles Day 2016: Alibaba Announces Record $18BN Sales

Singles Day 2015: Alibaba Breaks Sales Record

Singles Day 2014: Alibaba sells $2 billion of goods in first hour of world’s biggest online retail sales day

Alibaba Group chief executive Daniel Zhang said the spending bonanza demonstrated “customers’ continued pursuit to upgrade their everyday lifestyles”.

Singles Day was kicked off on November 10 with a gala featuring Mariah Carey, a Japanese Beyoncé impersonator and a shoe-shopping-themed Cirque du Soleil performance.

Alibaba invented the sale event to celebrate the unattached as an antithesis to the romantically involved on Valentine’s Day.

According to Bloomberg, Singles Day is now the world’s biggest online sales event and this year’s total was more than Black Friday and Cyber Monday’s totals combined.

Some 180,000 brands are available in the shopping blitz, including top technology companies Xaomi, Apple and Dyson.

In 2017, Alibaba expanded the event to the Western market, with downloads of its app AliExpress surging in the US and UK.

The shopping frenzy has broken world records in e-commerce sales – surpassing last year’s record at 17:34 Hong Kong Time.

However, observers believe as the event matures, its growth rate will slow down.

This year Alibaba has also faced new challenges, such as new rivals in the market, a slowing economy and its stock dropping 16% thanks to China’s trade war with the US.

The November sale event is expected to be founder Jack Ma’s last at the helm of Alibaba. The current chief executive will take over as chairman in 2019, Alibaba announced in September.

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Alibaba looks set to smash the sales record for its annual Singles Day event.

About 12 hours into the event, sales had reached 82.4 billion yuan ($12.1 billion), the e-commerce giant said. Last year’s record was $14.3 billion.

However, some have questioned the accuracy of the numbers, amid claims of inflated sales data at online retailers across China.

Merchants passing off counterfeit goods as genuine is also an industry problem.

Alibaba reported 85% of purchases had been made on mobile phones during Singles Day.singles-day-2016

The website has also been experimenting with new technology including augmented reality and virtual reality to give shoppers other ways of buying items.

Singles Day had a blistering start with sales hitting $5 billion in the first hour, Alibaba said, though that total included pre-orders made by customers who could “lock in” prices.

It took 90 minutes to hit that milestone in 2015.

Singles Day is held every year on November 11. The day is also referred to as Double Eleven (11/11) because of its date.

Originally claimed as a celebration for China’s young singletons, Alibaba turned it into a shopping bonanza in 2009.

While Alibaba is undeniably the driving force behind the event, other retailers have also stared to piggyback off the idea, including extending the concept to Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Alibaba’s rival JD.com, which focuses more on electronics, reported receiving more orders in the first nine hours of trading on November 11 than it had done during the whole of Singles Day 2014.

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