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

Alibaba

Alibaba

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.


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

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