HONG KONG - Alibaba Group logged more than 268 billion yuan of purchases during its Singles' Day bonanza, exceeding last year's record haul after a 24-hour shopping marathon.
Also referred to as"Double 11" because it falls on November 11, it's closely watched by investors keen to gauge how willing Chinese consumers are to spend as economic growth threatens to slip below 6%.Among China's largest corporations, Alibaba is expected to better ride out the storm, thanks to booming online consumption in the world's No. 2 economy.
Singles' Day emerged as a uniquely Chinese antidote to the sentimentality surrounding Valentine's Day. Emerging on college campuses across the country, it takes its name from the way the date is written numerically as 11/11, which resembles"bare branches," a local expression for the unattached.Last year, sales at Alibaba climbed 27% to 213.5 billion yuan, equivalent to US$30.7 billion at the time. This time, purchases grew 26% from the year earlier.
They vied for the wallets of Chinese shoppers particularly in relatively untapped rural areas. All employ heavy discounting and hard-sell tactics in the run-up to and during the 24 hours in a bid to best the previous year's record.
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