By Ryan Gandolfo
Singles Day is back and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is breaking sales records yet again. This year, the worlds biggest online shopping event hit its first gross merchandise volume (GMV) benchmark RMB10 billion in just 96 seconds, shattering last years record by nearly half a minute. Within the first hour, Singles Day (also known as Shuang Shiyi, meaning Double 11) celebrated RMB91.2 billion in total sales, with consumers purchasing a wide range of products from food and appliances to luxury items.
South China Morning Post, which was acquired by Alibaba Group in 2016, reported that Chinese shoppers have already surpassed last years Singles Day total sales of RMB213.5 billion. As of 5.05pm, Alibaba recorded RMB217 billion in GMV, a figure that continues to climb as the 24-hour shopping festival comes to a close.
With the US-China trade war having carried on for 16 months as well as an economic slowdown in the Chinese economy, Double 11s performance is indicative of consumer sentiment, SCMP reports. Aside from Alibabas e-commerce platforms Taobao and Tmall, the company is also factoring business-to-business e-commerce platforms like AliExpress and Southeast Asian e-commerce subsidiary Lazada into total GMV.
Aside from insane spending, 11.11 Global Shopping Festival is known for putting on quite the show in the lead up to the shopping spree, which features favorable discounts on a wide range of goods. This year, Taylor Swift headlined the 2019 gala at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai. The pop star was joined by a number of high-profile performers including G.E.M and Jackson Yee from TFboys.
WATCH: Taylor Swift Performs at 2019 Singles Day Gala
Image via Alizila
This year also marks the first Singles Day without co-founder Jack Ma at the helm, after the former chairman stepped down in September.
Among many Singles Day-related topics on Weibo, the hashtag #Double11WhatDidYouBuy (##) has given readers an inside look at some consumers shopping carts. One Weibo user posted, Ive decided I need to stop, sharing a photo of his spending total reaching RMB1,800 in the early hours of Monday. Expect to see more posts like that throughout the rest of the day.
READ MORE: Alibaba Sells 10 Billion in 125 Seconds for Singles' Day 2018
[Cover image via China Daily]
To see Taylor Swifts Singles Day performance, click "Read more" () below.
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