Alibaba's Singles' Day sales hit new record of $38 bn

Hangzhou (China): E-commerce giant Alibaba’s Singles’ Day sales hit another record of USD 38.38 billion, even amid concerns of slowing economic growth and trade tensions with the United States.

The Alibaba Group’s various shopping platforms’ total GMV exceeded USD 10 billion in just 29:45 seconds, and broke last year’s record sales figure after 16 hours 31 minutes of the Global Shopping Festival going live.

At the close of the 24-hr shopping extravaganza, the total GMV stood at RMB 268.4 billion (USD 38.379 billion).

According to Alibaba, the year-on-year GMV growth registered a 25.7 per cent rise, while the number of delivery orders stood at a massive 1.292 billion.

As many as 15 brands surpassed RMB1 billion in GMV including Apple, Haier, Huawei, Nike, XiaomI, Adidas, L’oreal and Estee Lauder among others, Alibaba said.

During the 11.11 shopping festival some of the major countries/regions that bought from China in terms of GMV include Russia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, United States, Australia, Malaysia and Japan, Alibaba said.

The 11.11 shopping festival began in 2009 with participation from just 27 merchants has evolved into a global shopping festival, Chris Tung CMO of Alibaba Group said.

More than 200,000 brands from 78 countries and regions participated in 11.11 this year, with one million new products on offer.