Chinese couriers handle 251 mn packages on Singles' Day

Chinese postal and courier companies handled a whopping 251 million packages on Singles' Day, the world's largest online shopping day, during which China's e-commerce firms raked up USD 26 billionworth of sales.
The figure was 52 per cent more than the previous year, the State Post Bureau said in a statement.
The bureau forecast couriers will handle more than 1.05 billion packages from the Singles' Day on Friday to November 16, up 35 per cent from a year earlier.
The surge in packages will weigh on the country's logistics system, especially in the first three days after the shopping spree started, the statement said.

This year's shopping festival smashed lots of previous records.
China's 16 major e-commerce sites recorded 177 billion yuan (about USD 26 billion) in sales during the 24 hours, according to data provider Syntun.
Yesterday, sources with Alibaba Group said the e-commerce giant behind the 24-hour Singles' Day shopping blitz has raked up a record USD 17.6 billion in the Singles Day online sales, creating a new record in global retail sales for any single day.