Business & Money | Sunday 11 November, 2018 12:24 am |

The biggest shopping day on the planet has started with a bang.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (BABA) said Sunday that sales soared past $1 billion after just one minute and 25 seconds of the online retail blitz known as Singles Day.

The shopping extravanganza regularly racks up bigger sales than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. But this year's Singles Day comes as Alibaba's growth is coming under pressure from China's slowing economy, new rivals in the e-commerce industry and the trade war with the United States.

Alibaba cut its annual revenue forecast by as much as 6% earlier this month.

"It is possible that there will be a slowdown in growth for Singles Day sales, given that they have had exponential growth in the past," Xiaofeng Wang, an analyst with research firm Forrester, said ahead of the event. "As the festival matures and becomes more established, we can expect the growth rate to slow down."

 

Singles Day is an informal holiday in China celebrating people not in relationships. Its date — November 11, or 11/11— is meant to symbolize singletons.

Alibaba started offering Singles Day discounts in 2009 and has since turned the day into a 24-hour bonanza of online shopping in China.