Consumers spend billions during e-commerce event

Chinese consumers are spending billions of dollars shopping online for anything from diapers to diamonds on “Singles Day,” a day of promotions that has grown into the world’s biggest e-commerce event.

China’s biggest e-commerce giant, Alibaba Group, said sales by the thousands of retailers on its platforms had exceeded $20 billion by early evening Saturday in a count that started at midnight Friday. Last year, sales on Alibaba’s platforms totaled over $18.2 billion, a record for the company.

By comparison, American shoppers last year spent more than $5 billion shopping online on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday, according to Adobe, which tracks such data.

In China, Alibaba’s main rival, online retailer JD.com, said sales had topped $16.7 billion, but the tallies are not comparable because JD tracks transactions starting from Nov. 1 through to the actual day.