(Xinhuanet file photo)
Alibaba had recorded sales of 10 billion yuan (1.57 bln U.S. dollars) within 12 minutes and 28 seconds of midnight, smashing records again on this year's Singles' Day on Wednesday, China's online buying fiesta akin to America's Cyber Monday.
Last year, it took 38 minutes to hit the 10 bln yuan mark and the company is expected to easily break last year's one-day sales record of 57.1 bln yuan.
As of 8:30 a.m., the figure stood at 44.2 bln yuan, according to the comany's Zhejiang HQ.
This year's Singles' Day shopping extravaganza came only days after China unveiled proposals for the 13th Five-year Plan (2016-2020), which said consumption should play a "fundamental role" in future economic growth.
Starting as in-joke and an excuse for the unattached to celebrate -- or poke fun at -- their status in the 1990s, Singles' Day has evolved into an online shopping spree for all in recent years, as e-commerce operators stepped in to tap into the buying potential of bachelors and discount-savvy netizens.
Alibaba, which operates China's largest consumer-to-consumer (C2C) and business-to-consumer (B2C) marketplaces Taobao and Tmall, has played a leading role in the Singles' Day shopping craze but faces increasing competition this year, including from its rival JD.com.
