Alibaba isn’t alone: China’s JD racks up 14 million orders on Singles Day

Taobao and Tmall get the lion’s share of attention on Singles Day, but don’t count their competitors. JD, the biggest ecommerce company in China that isn’t owned by Alibaba, today announced how it fared during China’s biggest shopping event of the year.

JD didn’t reveal the dollar amount of all the goods it sold, but did indicate that it beat last year’s record 13 hours into the day. Last year, customers spent US$1.6 billion on the store.

Over 14 million orders containing 35.19 million items were placed on JD on November 11, up over 120 percent compared to last year. The gross merchandise value of all that stuff compared to last year more than doubled.

Over 40 percent of orders were placed using a mobile device, eight times the rate of last year.

Apparel had the largest number of orders for the day, with a 250 percent increase in orders.

JD in China popular for two reasons: its goods are genuine and delivery is fast. To that end, JD brags that the first delivery was made 55 minutes after the order was placed just after midnight on November 11. The customer bought a Midea water heater.

Unlike Alibaba, JD holds much of its own inventory and operates its own delivery network, offering direct sales instead of multi-vendor marketplaces.

See: New record for world’s biggest shopping day as Alibaba’s shoppers spend $9.3 billion in 24 hours