Update 12:25 p.m. ET: Alibaba broke its Singles Day sales record shortly before 8 p.m. in China, easily topping last year’s total with about four hours left to run.
Happy Singles Day! E-commerce giant Alibaba is on track to smash its annual sales record for its shopping “holiday.” Consumers started off the day with a bang, spending a collective $5 billion in just an hour. BBC News reported that sales had reached $13.4 billion 15 hours into the event — just $1 billion shy from last year’s record of $14.3 billion — with nine hours left still to shop. Alibaba also reported that 85 percent of purchases were made on a mobile device.
Total Retail’s Take: Those numbers are very impressive, however, some have questioned the accuracy of them, claiming inflated sales data at online retailers across China. Merchants passing off counterfeit goods as the real deal is also an industry problem affecting consumers on Singles Day. One shopper was scammed for almost $2,000 in 2014, but decided to try her luck and shop again this year. We figure to have more Singles Day coverage come Monday, when we'll have all of the sales figures in.