China’s Singles day: World’s biggest E-commerce day

Chinese online shoppers celebrate “Singles Day,” a holiday that has grown into the world’s busiest day for e-commerce. The country’s biggest e-commerce brand, Alibaba Group, said sales by the thousands of retailers on its platforms passed 62.6 billion yuan ($9 billion) in the first 10 hours of the day. (AFP Photo)

Published on: Nov 11, 2016 6:23 PM IST

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Chinese online shoppers celebrate “Singles Day,” a holiday that has grown into the world’s busiest day for e-commerce. The country’s biggest e-commerce brand, Alibaba Group, said sales by the thousands of retailers on its platforms passed 62.6 billion yuan ($9 billion) in the first 10 hours of the day. (AFP Photo)

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The 24-hour event held annually offers a benchmark for Alibaba’s performance enabled via smartphones. Sales officially opened at midnight, releasing a wave of pre-orders placed ahead of the event that propelled the first billion dollars of transactions in just under 5 minutes. (AFP Photo)

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Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson, left, and Alibaba Group Chairman Jack Ma, center, at the gala on the eve of the Singles Day online shopping festival. The event this year also featured concerts by OneRepublic and appearances by Kobe Bryant, German soccer player Thomas Müller and other western celebrities. (AP Photo)

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Former Los Angeles Laker, Kobe Bryant, performing during the 11:11 Global Shopping Festival gala. (AFP Photo)

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Britain's David Beckham (C) and his wife Victoria Beckham (3rd L) attending the 2016 Tmall 11:11 Global Shopping Festival gala. (AFP Photo)

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Chinese workers sort through boxes of goods at a delivery company in Lin'an, China.Singles Day, or Bachelor’s Day, started in 1993, after a group of single male Nanjing university students coined the idea for an ‘anti-Valentines Day’. (AFP Photo)

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When Alibaba launched the annual online sale on Singles’ Day 2009, offering steep discounts for a 24-hour period. Motorcycle delivery riders get a team talk before starting a day of deliveries in Beijing on November 11, 2016 (AFP Photo)

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Analysts expect $20bn in sales, smashing 2015’s record haul of $14.4bn, in a day that has eclipsed both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the two biggest shopping days in the US. Workers at the ZTO Express logistic delivery centre process packages one day before China's Singles Day, traditionally the busiest day for online shopping in Beijing, China. (AP Photo)

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Employees work extra hours to pack products at a factory during the 11.11 shopping festival symbolizing the rise of the events main source: Chinese consumption. Alibaba says, sales volume is only one metric by which it judges Singles Day, and that it is inevitable that the law of big numbers comes into play.” (REUTERS Photo)

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The day is a welcome sign to the country’s leaders, who are working to transform the economy to consumer-orientated. A couple carries shopping bags on the main shopping street at West Nanjing Road, during the 'Double Eleven' Online Shopping Festival day in Shanghai. (AFP Photo)