Alibaba Singles' Day breaks sales record, rakes in $18 bn in 13 hours

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s Singles’ Day shopping bonanza broke last year’s all-time high of 120.7 billion yuan ($18.2 billion) by 1:09 pm in Beijing, with about 11 hours still to go before the final bell.

The annual frenzy had already hit $8.6 billion in sales in the first hour after starting at midnight, and by 8 am some 82 brands had topped 100-million yuan in sales, including New Balance, Samsung and Shiseido, according to Alizila, a blog run by the company. More than 90 per cent of transactions were done via mobile.

Shoppers from at least 192 countries and regions swarmed the