Alibaba Group’s 10th annual Singles Day sale on 11/11 racked up $30.8 billion (RMB213.5) in sales, and set a new record for the platform with a 27% rise over last year’s $25.3 billion take.

A total of 230 countries and regions had completed transactions for the gross merchandise volume (GMV) settled through Alipay, and 180,000+ brands and businesses participated including Nike, Adidas and L’Oréal. And 237 brands exceeded $14 million in GMV including Apple, Dyson, Kindle, Gap, Estée Lauder and Nestlé.

The event was spurred to record sales in part by a burgeoning and tech-savvy Chinese middle class and Alibaba’s addition of in-store retail via more brick-and-mortar stores and food and hotel services.

The company’s Singles Day volume once again exceeded US online sales from Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined, and topped Amazon’s Prime Day shopping extravaganza.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.brandchannel.com