Today, on China’s “Singles’ Day” Alibaba (NYSE:$BABA), China made $5 billion in transactions in just fifteen minutes. This blew their past recorded figures of their one-day shopping event completely out of the water.
Further, Alibaba processed more transactions in those first 15 minutes then they made in the first hour of their event back in 2015. Additionally, it took them almost a full hour to reach $5 billion last year. 97 percent of their sales within the first 30 minutes were prompted through mobile devices.
Singles’ day is an alternative Valentine’s Day, set every year on November 11th, celebrated specifically in China. Unmarried men and women celebrate this holiday by buying themselves gifts, and Alibaba has capitalized on this event.
According to their data, the peak number of transactions they processed per second reached 325,000. The payment transaction rates they calculated were 250,000, which is doubled from last year.
These figures put American holidays like Black Friday and Cyber Monday to shame. When Amazon (NASDAQ:$AMZN) launched their first “Prime Day” it took them 30 hours to reach $1 billion in sales. Combining last year’s Prime Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales only equates to about 43% of Alibaba’s total sales on last year’s singles day.
During last year’s singles day, Alibaba saw $17.8 billion in sales but this year they reached $12 billion in the first two hours.
Alibaba’s President Michael Evans had an interview with CNBC today and stated:
“It’s not that we need Singles Day. It’s the opportunity for merchants and consumers to have fun and engage in something that’s really exciting. It’s the opportunity for consumers to explore and find new brands and new products.”
Featured Image: twitter
