China’s Singles’ Day smashes retail records with $33 billion in 24 hours

Shoppers have spent more than $33 billion in 24 hours during China’s annual Singles Day, smashing previous records for the world’s largest retail event and eclipsing Australia’s annual December retail spend.  After Singles’ Day became widespread in China it became a retail event heavily promoted by online marketplace Alibaba.com, which trademarked the term “Double 11” in 2012.   Although traditionally an online event, Alibaba said it had turned 100,000 physical shops around China into “smart stores” for this year.

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