E-commerce giant Ali Baba has once again shown why it is a force to be reckoned with.
On November 11, called ‘Singles Day’ in China, single people go on a shopping spree. And it was a spree like none other since in just a matter of 90 minutes, the e-commerce giant was able to record $5 billion USD in sales. At days end, Ali Baba is expected to surpass its previously held record of $9.34 billion USD.
The company has stated that it was able to cross $1 billion USD in sales during the first eight minutes of crossing midnight. After the first 60 minutes had passed by, it had raked in $3.9 billion USD in sales. In comparison, sales of Cyber Monday, an annual shopping day which is the first Monday that comes right after Black Friday, were a measly $1.35 billion USD in 2014, according to the data analytics firm ComScore.
8 minutes in: $1 billion in sales
60 minutes in: $3.9 billion in sales
12 hours in: $8.96 billion in sales
Expected total sales: Over $13 billion
With the rise of mobile devices as primary mediums of consumption, it is no surprise that 27 million purchases came from mobile devices during the first hour. Thanks to affordability and flexibility of these devices, consumers have been turning to phones and tablets for media consumption as well as shopping.
With online payments becoming a breeze to execute, more and more have access to the goods and services that they require. Despite the fact that the economy is slowing down in China, giants like Ali Baba are exactly the kind of catalysts that are required to propel it back up.