Alibaba Generates $3.9 Billion In First Hour Of Its Singles’ Day Sale

Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant, smashed online sales record last year when the company recorded $9.3 billion in Singles’ Day Sale of 2014. Now, it seems that the company is all set to break its previous record this time.

Singles’ Day Sale has been started and within just first hour of the sale, the company has already generated more than $3.9 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV). The number has risen to $5 billion within the first 90 minutes of the sale and $6.56 billion by 7:45 this morning.

Also, the company claims that around 130 million users visited its online marketplace through its mobile application. This number exceeds the peak volume recorded in 2014. Out of those 130 million visitors, around 27 million users shopped.

Alibaba’s Chief Executive Daniel Zhang, said,

This year, Alibaba Group has transformed 11.11 into an unprecedented mobile shopping experience. Over the course of the 24-hour shopping marathon, consumers will have a new surprise every hour that has been especially tailored for mobile users.

Within the first eight minutes, the total Gross Merchandise value (GMV) of Alipay exceeded $1 billion, beating its last year’s record of 17 minutes to hit the $1 billion mark.

Last year, on the same day, the company said that it generated above $2 billion in an hour of the Singles’ day sales, which is also known as “Double Eleven”. In 2014, the company generated over $9.3 billion in total sales, more than four times the $2.4 billion sold on Cyber Monday, the biggest online sale in U.S.

Alibaba’s numbers are very high compared to the sales in Indian e-commerce space. In Big Billion Day Sale by Flipkart, the company sold products of worth $300 million with two-third number of products accounted for smartphones.

Singles’ Day falls on 11th November every year is known as the world’s biggest online 24-hour sales event and officially kicks off at the stroke of midnight. It was created in the 1990s as a way to celebrate single life.

But Alibaba became the first major company to monetize on the occasion of this holiday by launching a special online sale in 2009 that transformed the day into a shopping phenomenon.