Alibaba Group Holding Limited, the Chinese e-commerce giant announced that it generated nearly USD 12 billion of gross merchandise volume (GMV) settled through Alipay in the first two hours of the Global Shopping Festival 2017 which is also known as 11.11 or Singles Day.
According to the company’s blog post, delivery orders rose to 812 million than 657 million last year, a 23 percent increase.
The GMV clocked in USD 25.3 billion, 39 percent more than last year’s record-breaking number of USD 17.8 billion.
Indian e-commerce sector this year, during the Diwali festival reported a total GMV of just about USD 1.5 billion.
Alibaba claimed that the total number of brands on the platform was more than 140,000 for the shopping festival.
The total GMV settled through Alipay in the first 2 minutes and 1 second was around USD 1 billion. The company’s cloud processed 325,000 orders per second at peak within the first hour.
This year’s 11.11 was also about further validating the new retail model Alibaba has been rolling out with merchants and brands, helping them introduce technology that melds their online and offline operations and consumer experiences.
"Setting up a new retail chain is not something Alibaba is eyeing. Instead, the goal is to capitalise on Alibaba’s technology to empower brick-and-mortar shop owners to go digital," said Daniel Zhang, the chief executive officer.
The company hosted its third gala featuring celebrities Pharrell Williams, Nicole Kidman, Maria Sharapova, Jessie J, among others.
The 11.11 shopping festival began in 2009 with participation from just 27 merchants as an event for merchants and consumers to raise awareness of the value in online shopping.
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