Alibaba said sales for its annual Singles' Day shopping blitz have exceeded $30bn, putting the event on track to set a record in its 11th year.
The figure is equivalent to more than 80pc of Amazon's sales in its most recent quarter and matches takings across Alibaba's e-commerce platforms on Singles' Day last year.
The event, a gauge of Chinese consumer sentiment, has also become a shop window this year for Alibaba as the retailer prepares to sell shares worth $15bn in Hong Kong later this month. The New York-listed company has spent big to diversify its business yet but still makes more than fourth-fifths of revenue from e-commerce.
Alibaba turned China's informal Singles' Day into a shopping event a decade ago and built it into the world's biggest online sales fest, dwarfing Cyber Monday in the US that make $7.9bn last year. The name is a play on the date, November 11, rendered 11/11 - or Double Eleven, as the event is also known.
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