Alibaba sets new record through singles day sales

SHANGHAI: Alibaba Group (Alibaba) set a new record for its Singles Day by posting sales of 213.5 billion renminbi (US$30.8 billion) in the 24-hour shopping event on Sunday.

Gross merchandise value (GMV), a figure that shows sales across the Chinese ecommerce giant’s various shopping platforms, surpassed last year’s RMB168.2 billion (US$25.3 billion) sales on the day.

Chief executive officer Daniel Zhang said this represented a 27 per cent growth from 2017.

“Participation from the entire Alibaba ecosystem enabled our brand and merchant partners to engage with consumers like never before. Looking ahead, Alibaba will continue to lead the evolution towards the future digital economy and lifestyle,” he told a press conference here in conjunction with the online shopping event, also billed the Double 11 shopping gala (11.11).

He also said the group would continue to innovate, according to people’s lifestyles, and which will change with the development of new technologies and business model.

Zhang believed in the next five to 10 years, the 11.11 (event) of the year will be different and Alibaba would continue to innovate and embrace changes brought about by new technologies.

The Singles Day recorded 69.3 billion renminbi (US$10 billion) in GMV through Alipay in just one hour and 48 seconds.

It also set a new world record as 6.9 billion renminbi of total GMV was settled through Alipay in the first one minute and 25 seconds after kicking off at 12 am (Nov 11).

The 11.11 also broke another record of 150 billion renminbi of total GMV in 12 hours, eight minutes 40 seconds, compared to last year (21 hour 12 minutes 35 seconds).

During the 2018 festival, over 40 per cent of consumers made purchases from international brands and 237 brands exceeded 100 million renminbi in GMV, including Apple, Dyson, Kindle, Estée Lauder, L’Oréal, Nestlé, Gap, Nike and Adidas.

Lazada participated in 11.11 as part of the Alibaba ecosystem, bringing the festival to consumers in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, with more than 180,000 brands from China and worldwide having participated. — Bernama