Alibaba keeps Singles Day sales tally under wraps for first time

Some 290,000 brands participated in the 2022 Singles Day, with merchants offering varying levels of discounts starting as early as late October. - AP

BEIJING (AFP): Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has not released full sales figures for its annual Singles Day event for the first time ever, as a cooling economy dampened demand.

Launched in 2009, Singles Day is the world's largest shopping festival, dwarfing similar US events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday in terms of sales.