Chinese consumers spend billions in Single’s Day extravaganza

A screen shows the gross merchandise volume, a measure of sales, after 12 minutes 49 seconds of Singles Day sales, as it reaches about 7,147,554,107 USD in Hangzhou in China’s eastern Zhejiang province early on November 11, 2019. (Photo by – / AFP) / China OUT

SHANGHAI, China — E-commerce giant Alibaba filled billions of dollars in orders on Monday during China’s annual “Singles Day” shopping frenzy, the world’s biggest 24-hour shopping event.

Total gross merchandise volume settled through the company’s payments platform Alipay hit 100 billion yuan ($14.3 billion) within 63 minutes and 59 seconds, according to Alibaba — 43 minutes ahead of last year’s pace.

The promotion, now in its 11th year, kicked off early Monday with Chinese online buyers seizing on sales prices to snap up everything from electronics to clothing and housewares.

The first $1 billion was spent in just 68 seconds, Alibaba said.

The event is considered a useful annual gauge of consumer sentiment in China, where the economy is in the midst of a long-term slowdown but retail sales have remained a bright spot as China’s consumer market continues to grow.