Chinese shoppers spend $500m on Alibaba’s Tmall in 20 minutes

It has turned November 11 in China, commencing the nation’s craziest day of online shopping discounts and spending. It’s called 11/11. At Alibaba HQ, China’s top ecommerce company is watching its consumers spending in real-time in what we like to call its ‘big data’ war-room. Alibaba’s Tmall, its open marketplace for merchants, saw $177 million spent in the first six minutes. That leapt to US$266 million (RMB 1.64 billion) after the first ten minutes, and then to very near US$500-million (RMB US$3.021-billion) at the 20-minute mark. (UPDATE: After the first 50 minutes, US$1-billion has been spent).

In the hour before midnight, Alibaba representatives said that six million people had put items in their virtual baskets, awaiting the start of 11/11 and for the discounts to become active. More than 20 000 merchants on the Tmall online marketplace — from small businesses to major brands like Uniqlo — are taking part in the sales day.

Last year’s November 11th online shopping bonanza ended with Alibaba’s Tmall clocking up about US$2.5-billion in sales during the 24-hour period. Along with sister site Taobao, the total spent on Alibaba’s e-stores came to US$3.1-billion on this day last year.

Early signs indicate that this year’s 11/11, in line with e-commerce growth in China as a whole, will be even bigger for Tmall and many of its rival sites. Tmall’s closest competitor, Jingdong, declined to reveal sales numbers.

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This article by Steven Millward originally appeared on Tech in Asia, a Burn Media publishing partner.