"Singles Day" in China: Alibaba earns one billion in two minutes

Shanghai – The biggest shopping event in China this year set a new record: according to media reports, online giant Alibaba has approached the previous year's record the "Singles Day" eight hours before the end of the sale. The largest online retailer had already sold goods worth 21.4 billion euros Sunday afternoon (local time), as reported by the "South China Morning Post" . The previous year, this amount was 21.8 billion euros.

The figures indicate that the ongoing trade dispute in the United States has had little impact on consumer spending in China so far. In the ensuing period, it was feared that Alibaba and other online retailers would be hit hard by the trade dispute. The most popular among imported products this year apparently health supplements, milk powder and face masks, media report.

Anti-Valentine's Day is bigger than Black Friday

Singles day 11.11. In China, students were originally as a kind of anti-Valentine's Day for singles, because the date is one. Eight years ago, Alibaba began offering its customers significant discounts 24 hours a day. Many competitors followed suit, making the annual Singles Day a real fight at a discount.

Meanwhile, Singles Day is the largest online shopping event in the world, even before the American Black Friday. Many customers postpone planned bulk purchases by that date.

Four-hour Gala

In the first two minutes of Singles Day, which began at midnight, Alibaba has already sold for a total of 1.27 billion euros, according to the news agency Xinhua reported. Last year, Singles Day brought sales records to online retailers.

Alibaba has the event cost a lot every year. A four-hour gala featuring stars such as Mariah Carey and Miranda Kerr, as well as performances by Cirque du Soleil acrobats who featured a shoe-buying performance, were broadcast live on the video platform d & # 39; Alibaba. The founder of the company, Jack Ma, sits in the audience and recorded this year's Singles Day in video. (AFP, dpa)