The figure is equivalent to over 80 per cent of US rival Amazon.com Inc’s online store sales in the latest quarter and matches takings across Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms on Singles’ Day last year. The name is a play on the date, Nov 11, rendered 11/11 - or Double Eleven, as the event is also known. But sales growth for Alibaba on Singles’ Day has weakened as China’s economy slowed. Last year, it posted a 27 per cent year-on-year sales increase, the lowest in the event’s 10-year history. Sales hit US$1 billion after one minute and eight seconds and reached 158.31 billion yuan (US$22.6 billion) in the first nine hours, up 25 per cent from the same point last year, Alibaba said.

Source: New Strait Times November 11, 2019 09:41 UTC