Alibaba nets record $30bn in Singles’ Day haul, but growth rate plunges
The Chinese e-commerce giant’s Singles’ Day, also called ‘Double 11’, is the world’s biggest online sales event
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba cashed a record 213.5-billion yuan ($30.7bn) in sales on Sunday during its 24-hour online retail frenzy Singles’ Day, but the event’s annual growth dropped to its slowest rate. Shoppers in China and across the world snapped up hot items including iPhones, furniture and milk powder starting predawn, with Alibaba recording about $10bn in sales in the first hour after midnight. Singles’ Day, also called “Double 11”, is the world’s biggest online sales event, outstripping the sales of US shopping holidays Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. The Chinese event was originally a novelty student holiday to celebrate being single, countering Valentine’s Day, but has since grown into a month-long online shopping festival that peaks with a 24-hour sale on November 11. In 2018 the company surpassed 2017’s full-day sales record of 168-billion yuan in just under 16 hours. Despite the record haul, the annual sales growth rate fell from 39% to 27%, at the low end...
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