Watch FIFA World Cup 2026™ LIVE, FREE and EXCLUSIVE

China's 'Singles' Day' on track to beat $25 billion sales record

Alibaba is on target to beat last year's sales record of $US25.4 billion for "Singles' Day," the largest e-commerce shopping day of the year.

Chairman of Alibaba Group, Jack Ma, right, with an employee on Global Shopping Festival 2018 in Shanghai.

Chairman of Alibaba Group, Jack Ma, right, with an employee on Global Shopping Festival 2018 in Shanghai. Source: AAP

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba sold more than $US25.4 billion ($A25 billion) in goods in the first nine hours of "Singles' Day," the largest shopping day of the year.

Sales on Sunday were already $US3 billion higher than at the same time last year, according to the South China Morning Post, putting Alibaba on target to beat last year's sales record of $US25.4 billion.

Alibaba's Tmall platform saw $US1.44 billion in sales in the first two minutes of Singles' Day, which began at midnight, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua.

Chinese workers carry goods from Singles' Day online shopping onto a "Fuxing" high-speed bullet train from Beijing to Changsha.
Chinese workers carry goods from Singles' Day online shopping onto a "Fuxing" high-speed bullet train from Beijing to Changsha. Source: AAP

Early sales figures are an indication that China's ongoing trade war with the United States has done little to dent domestic consumption so far.

Singles' Day has been a fixture in China since Alibaba turned the "holiday" meant to deride single people into a shopping extravaganza in 2009 by offering deep discounts on a range of products from electronics to travel packages.

Other companies have since followed suit and in 2015 Singles' Day surpassed Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined, two of the largest shopping days in the US.

In the lead-up this year's event, there were concerns that Alibaba and other e-commerce sites like JD.com, which runs a similar sale, may be hit hard by new tariffs on US goods.

Washington imposed tariffs on $US250 million worth of Chinese goods since the trade war began in July, while Beijing has imposed tariffs on $US110 million.


2 min read

Published

Updated



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Follow SBS News

Download our apps

Listen to our podcasts

Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service

Watch now

Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world