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Alibaba breaks Singles Day record of more than $30 billion in sales and climbing
A screen shows the gross merchandise volume, a measure of sales, after 12 minutes 49 seconds of Singles Day sales, as it reaches about 7,147,554,107 USD in Hangzhou in China’s eastern Zhejiang province early on November 11, 2019.AFP | Getty ImagesChinese e-commerce giant Alibaba set a new sales record on Singles Day, the world’s largest…
A screen shows the gross merchandise volume, a measure of sales, after 12 minutes 49 seconds of Singles Day sales, as it reaches about 7,147,554,107 USD in Hangzhou in China's eastern Zhejiang province early on November 11, 2019.
AFP | Getty Images
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba set a new sales record on Singles Day, the world's largest 24-hour shopping event.
Gross merchandise value (GMV), a figure that shows sales across Alibaba's various shopping platforms, surpassed last year's 213.5 billion yuan record (nearly $30.5 billion) on Monday afternoon local time, and kept rising through the rest of the day.
It was the 11th edition of the annual Singles Day event — also called the Double 11 shopping festival because it falls on Nov. 11. During the 24-hour period, which began at midnight in Singapore and Hong Kong, Alibaba offered huge discounts across its e-commerce sites such as Tmall.
Alibaba's Singles Day sales last year exceeded the spending by consumers during any single U.S. shopping holiday such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
To help boost sales, Alibaba expanded the number of discounted items available in this year's event and put a heavy emphasis on livestreaming via its platforms to help sell goods. Live streaming has become a big part of the shopping experience on Chinese e-commerce sites.
Online personalities often speak to their followers and talk about products as well. On Wednesday, Kim Kardashian did a livestream announcing her fragrance brand KKW will be available for sale on Tmall.
Alibaba's new Singles Day record comes as it faces a slowing Chinese economy and stiff competition from domestic rivals. While Alibaba is the name often associated with the mega shopping event, competitors JD.com and Pinduoduo all offer their own sales. JD.com was already offering some Double 11 discounts before the actual day. Even Southeast Asia's e-commerce platforms have jumped on the bandwagon.
The day got off to a strong start for Alibaba. GMV hit $12.01 billion in the first hour. Within an hour and a half, Alibaba's sales exceeded the total reached on Singles Day in 2016.
Some of the top-selling products early in the day included the 5G version of Huawei's Mate 30 Pro smartphone, as well as Apple's iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max.
Amid the ongoing U.S.-China trade war, there was some concern that American brands could get the cold shoulder from Chinese consumers. But this was not the case.
The U.S. was the second country by GMV in terms of countries selling to China.
Jacob Cooke, CEO of WPIC, an e-commerce tech and marketing firm which helps foreign brands sell in China, told CNBC that jewelry and apparel were the most popular product categories from American retailers.
He said everything his company has managed is “way up over last year.”
“There is no downturn there. There is no evidence there is sentiment decline for U.S. brands,” Cooke told CNBC.
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
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