The Alibaba e-shopping website Tmall saw sales total 57.1 billion yuan ($9.3 billion) on Nov. 11, compared with last year’s record of 36.2 billion yuan.
Nov. 11 is an informal holiday for singles in China — 11/11 being full of those lonely numbers — and in 2009, Alibaba co-opted the day for promotional purposes. It offers shoppers big discounts, much like Cyber Monday in other countries, and many other e-retailers have followed suit.
