Alibaba’s Singles Day has nothing to do with being single, except for two singles joining as one and making it 11. Within 5 minutes of opening its 2016 singles, sale Alibaba clocked in an astounding US$ 1 billion in Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV).
Jack Ma who was rejected from Harvard 10 times and not given a job at KFC where 24 people had applied and he was the only one rejected, today employs some of the biggest Western celebrities including David Beckham and Victoria Beckham, Daniel Craig, Kobe Bryant among others for his company promotions.
Alibaba’s Singles’ Day event set a Guinness World Record for highest online sales revenue generated by a single company in 24 hours with $14.3 billion in gross merchandise volume.
The transactions took place in more than 200 countries with nearly 70% of orders coming from mobile phones.
The 24-hour event is held every year on November 11. The day is also referred to as “Double Eleven” because of its date. It performs a benchmark for Alibaba's performance and grapple on online shopping, especially via smartphones.
Alibaba has introduced a virtual reality shopping experience and a stream of web broadcasts to push sales. Biggest of brands offer massive discounts, including Apple well known for guarding its priceline, is offered certain models of its Beats earphone at 50% off, whereas Nike promoted 60% off on a wide range of clothes and shoes.
Started in 2009, Alibaba's version of the event was designed to encourage consumers without a partner to treat themselves. The company had encouraged retailers to join and offer customers discounts of around 50%. The Same year, twenty-seven merchants took part in the sale.
Alibaba is all set to smash its previous Singles sales record. Analysts are predicting a whopping US $20 billion.