The Chinese e-commerce giant continues to set new precedents in the realm of online shopping. Every year, Alibaba continuously sells a shockingly high amount of product on November 11th, which is known as Singles’ Day in China where people traditionally spoil themselves with gifts. This Singles’ Day, Alibaba completely outdid themselves as they sold a record 268.4 billion yuan ($38.3 billion) worth of goods. That was a 26% increase on their previous record of 213.5 billion yuan, or about $30.8 billion, set last year. In just the first two minutes of the Singles’ Day sale, over 10 billion yuan, or $1.4 billion worth of goods were sold.
Singles’ Day has become the international benchmark for consumer shopping as it has become an incredibly popular tradition that even dwarfs Black Friday in America. Alibaba has become increasingly adept at marketing the holiday nationwide with online broadcasts featuring celebrities like Taylor Swift, who performed live at an Alibaba event just minutes before the sale kicked off. This holiday serves as a great indicator of the spending levels and habits of Chinese consumers. Alibaba shares opened up down about 2% despite their record-level of sales, likely because it was already priced in.
Business Barrage 