China spends record $18b halfway through Singles Day

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Blasting past last year’s US$12 billion, China’s eager online shoppers have spent US$17.9 billion halfway through the annual Singles Day shopfest.

Indeed, the midday tally has surpassed last year’s US$17.7 billion 24-hour total.

The figure is for Alibaba’s two marketplaces, which dominate China’s booming ecommerce industry. No consumer expenditure figure for the day is available from JD, Alibaba’s closest rival.

China’s online shoppers are set to spend around US$1.2 trillion during the course of this year, according to data from Emarketer.