Alibaba Breaks Sales Records on Singles Day. The Chinese web store giant Alibaba is on its way Monday to put new sales records in the books during Singles Day.
Up to and including 4 p.m. local time, there was over $ 30 billion in sales, with the previous record for nearly the entire day at nearly $ 31 billion.
Less than two minutes after midnight, more than $ 1 billion worth of goods had already been ordered. According to the Chinese state news agency Xinhua, up to 544,000 orders were placed per second.
Singles Day was conceived by four students in the 1990s, as a counterpart to Valentine’s Day. It is the day when Chinese people buy presents for themselves and others to celebrate that they are single.
The singular holiday was kicked off this year with a big TV show. This year singer Taylor Swift appeared as guest of honour. Many consumers postpone significant purchases such as electronics to take advantage of the discounts on November 11.