As China’s online shopping bonanza day starts, Alibaba’s Tmall sees $500 million spent in first 20 minutes

It has just turned November 11 in China, commencing the nation’s craziest day of online shopping discounts and spending. It’s called 11/11. At Alibaba HQ, China’s top e-commerce company is watching its consumers spending in real-time in what I like to call its ‘big data’ war-room. Alibaba’s Tmall, its open marketplace for merchants, saw $177 million spent in the first six minutes. That leapt to $266 million (RMB 1.64 billion) after the first ten minutes, and then to very near $500 million (RMB $3.021 billion) at the 20-minute mark [1]. (UPDATE: After the first 50 minutes, $1 billion has been spent). In the hour before midnight, Alibaba representatives said that six million people had put items in their virtual baskets, awaiting the start of 11/11 and for the discounts to become active. More than 20,000 merchants on the Tmall online marketplace – from small businesses to major brands like Uniqlo – are taking part in the sales day.

Last year’s November 11th online shopping bonanza ended with Alibaba’s Tmall clocking up about $2.5 billion in sales during the 24-hour period. Along with sister site Taobao, the total spent on Alibaba’s e-stores came to $3.1 billion on this day last year. Early signs indicate that this year’s 11/11, in line with e-commerce growth in China as a whole, will be even bigger for Tmall and many of its rival sites. Tmall’s closest competitor, Jingdong, declined to reveal sales numbers.