Alibaba’s Singles’ Day sales hit 31.82 bn dollar, breach 2018’s record of 30.8 bn dollar

In 16 hours and 33 minutes, the number of delivery orders exceeded 1 bn, surpassing the total number of delivery orders of 2018 11.11, Alibaba said. “This was 6 hours and 45 minutes faster than the time when the same record was achieved in 2018,” the Chinese e-commerce giant said.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd on Monday kicked off the 2019 11.11 Global Shopping Festival at 0000 hours on Monday as per Chinese time. In the first one minute and eight seconds, GMV settled through Alipay reached $1 bn (RMB 7.0 bn). In the first one hour, GMV settled through Alipay reached $12.0 bn (RMB 84.0 bn). The shopping festival, also known as Double 11, will draw to a close at midnight. The 11.11 shopping festival began in 2009 with participation from just 27 merchants as an event for merchants and consumers to raise awareness about the value of online shopping. Talking about the evolution of 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, Chris Tung Chief Marketing Officer of Alibaba Group said the event has evolved from a promotional event into a global event. Last year, it raked in a record $30.8 bn in GMV, eclipsing Cyber Monday sales of $7.9 bn and Black Friday sales at $6.22 bn.

Countries selling to China by GMV included Japan, US, South Korea, Australia, Germany, United Kingdom and France. The event is also referred to as Singles’ Day because of its date, 11/11 (November 11) consists of four ‘ones’.