Alibaba's Singles' Day cashes in US$25.3 billion

Alibaba Group Holding announced that US$25.3 billion of gross merchandise volume (GMV) was settled through Alipay on November 11, 2017 (during the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, also known as Singles' Day) -- an increase of 39% compared to 2016.

Additionally, mobile GMV settled through Alipay accounted for 90% of total GMV, compared to 82% last year.

“More than US$25 billion of GMV in one day is not just a sales figure,” said Daniel Zhang, chief executive officer of Alibaba Group. “It represents the aspiration for quality consumption of the Chinese consumer and it reflects how merchants and consumers alike have now fully embraced the integration of online and offline retail.”

Around 140,000 brands and merchants participated in the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival this year and 60,000 international brands and merchants were available to Chinese consumers. Top countries selling to China include Japan, United States, Australia, Germany, and South Korea.

In fact, Alibaba said it generated nearly US$12 billion of GMV settled through Alipay in the first two hours of the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival alone.

The annual 11.11 shopping festival began in 2009 with participation from 27 merchants as an event for merchants and consumers to raise awareness of the value in online shopping.