China's Singles Day sparks online shopping frenzy
China's Singles Day 2015 was the event's most lucrative year since it became associated with online shopping six years ago. The sort of anti-Valentine´s Day gives people an opportunity to celebrate being single.
Food orgy
Food products were a popular purchase. By 9 am Chinese consumers had snapped up some 1.2 million bottles of herbal tea, 350,000 liters of milk and 75,000 bottles of cooking oil on direct sales website JD.com.
Mammoth sales
It was a record breaking day at the office for Chinese internet giant Alibaba. By midday the website had smashed its whole-day sales record of $9.3 billion (8.6 billion euros). Alibaba became the first major company in 2009 to monetize the holiday by launching a special online sale and effectively transforming the day into the world's biggest 24-hour online shopping event.
Mobile rage
This is the season to buy a mobile phone apparently. By 2 pm Alibaba had sold over 2.1 million new phones, and just a few hours later JD.com had shifted 2.5 million.
Bargain hunting
It wasn’t only JD and Alibaba offering discounts for Singles Day. More than 40,000 online merchants got in on the act, with deals on 30,000 brands and 6 million different kinds of products.
Singles Day goes global
Singles Day is gaining ground for shoppers in other countries, too. Bargain hunters from around 200 countries and regions cashed in on the holiday by buying from Chinese retailers offering discounts online.