BEIJING (AP) – China’s largest Internet retailer rang up more than $9 billion during the country’s biggest online shopping holiday, smashing last year’s figure to set a record for a single day of sales.
Analysts said the “Singles Day” figures from e-commerce giant Alibaba show a continuing shift to online shopping over brick-and-mortar stores at a time of slowing economic growth in China.
Singles Day was invented by Chinese college students in the 1990s as an anti-Valentine’s Day when people could buy something for themselves. It was set for Nov. 11 because of the date’s four “ones.”
But Hangzhou-based Alibaba Group, which is known for its retail sites Taobao and Tmall.com, turned it into a day of online shopping for all with bargain deals. Other Chinese online retailers also have followed suit.
The record sales this year are “more indicative of changes in consumer habits rather than a bellwether of China’s overall economy,” said Derek Xin, a Beijing-based retail analyst at Hisend Research.