Alibaba Sees Record Sales in its Annual Single’s Day Event

Sunday was not only Veteran’s Day, but it was also Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s annual Singles’ Day event.

The event set a record this year with shoppers helping the company log $30.7 billion in just 24-hours. According to the company’s website, the $100 billion yuan mark had been hit in under two hours. To compare, Black Friday 2017 in the United States had made $5 billion in online sales.

While the sales event was a growth of 27% from the year-ago period it still fell short of the expected growth of 39%.

Alibaba Executive Vice Chairman Joe Tsai said, “I think you have to understand Alibaba and what Alibaba’s doing in the context of the long-term secular trend that’s developing in China, which is the rise of the Chinese middle class. That trend is not going to stop, trade war or no trade war.” Sunday’s event was the 10th anniversary of what Alibaba now calls the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival.

“Alibaba is making use of all of its platforms to make Singles’ Day a holiday that also includes dining and entertainment,” Jet Jing, president of Tmall, one of the company’s main sites, said at the Singles’ Day event. “We’re connecting online shopping with offline physical outlets.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) and have not been compensated for this article.