Alibaba’s Singles’ Day sales on track to smash 24-hour record in world’s biggest shopping event

Alibaba’s Singles’ Day shopping extravaganza is on track to surpass last year’s record, as consumers scooped up everything from consumer electronics, luxury items and even cars the moment the clock struck midnight.

This year’s Singles’ Day is expected to be Alibaba’s largest ever, as it hopes to achieve a record 1 billion orders at the end of the 24-hour event. As of 9:32 am on Sunday, 131 billion yuan (US$18.8 billion) worth of orders have been garnered, compared with 103 billion yuan at the same point last year.