Alibaba Breaks E-Commerce Sales Record On China's 'Singles' Day'

Alibaba Group said transactions on its websites today surpassed last year's single- day sales of 19.1 billion yuan ($3.1 billion) as discounts fueled demand on China's biggest online shopping day. Taobao and Tmall, Alibaba's two main platforms, broke last year's sales in the first 13 hours of the 24-hour period, China's largest e-commerce company said today on its official Twitter account. Today is China's Singles' Day, a local twist on Valentine's Day, and e-commerce firms are marking the occasion by flooding the Internet with promotions. Tmall's vendors, starting midnight, began cutting prices by 50% or more on selected products from 20,000 Chinese and international merchants, including Gap and Steven Madden. Surging Internet purchases show Chinese demand is shifting away from bricks-and-mortar outlets. The percentage of retail sales made online last year jumped to 6.3% from 4.3% a year earlier, according to Bloomberg Industries. Dwarfing Cyber Monday U.S. consumers last year spent $1.46 billion on Cyber Monday, or the Monday after Thanksgiving when e-retailers offer big promotions. 'Singles' Day' was invented by students in the 1990s, according to the Communist Party-owned People's Daily, which said the date (11-11) is reminiscent of the Chinese phrase -- "bare branches -- for bachelors and spinsters." RT @Alizila RMB 6.7 billion (USD 1.1 billion) in the first hour of the 11.11 Shopping Festival. #1111 #ecommerce #China... Alibaba's Tmall site began marketing the day as its biggest sales event in 2009, rivals jumped on board, and the day turned from an opportunity to seek out a partner -- or celebrate singledom -- into an online shopping bonanza. French wines Smaller rival 360buy Jingdong began offering half- price Pampers diapers from Nov. 1 and pledged to slice as much as 70% off items including slimming belts and facial moisturizers, according to its website. Suning Commerce Group, an Internet retailer which started out selling electrical appliances, has been running ads for online sales beginning Nov. 8 with the slogan: "Four days, four nights, shop non-stop." Singles' Day bargain hunters were also able stock up on cut-price American Standard toilets, crystal chandeliers, ducks' tongues, French wines and pineapple cookies. Alibaba, valued by some analysts at as much as $190 billion, may be headed for the biggest initial public offering since Facebook. An Alibaba Group staffer snapped this picture in Hangzhou, #China of #JackMa joining in the #1111 excitement. pic.twitter.com/OIJfDRIJTZ -- Bloomberg News --

Alibaba Breaks E-Commerce Sales Record On China's 'Singles' Day'

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