Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) launched direct sales for its annual Singles’ Day shopping festival on Monday, reporting a strong start that outpaced last year’s figures.
Launched by founder Jack Ma in 2009, Singles’ Day remains a key indicator of China’s consumer confidence and Alibaba’s e-commerce dominance.
Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, said this year’s event showed “faster growth.”
Also Read: Alibaba Stock Surges 95% As Company Doubles Down On AI, Cloud
Individual Brands Sales Growth
Within the first hour of sales on Taobao and Tmall, 80 brands surpassed 100 million yuan ($13.8 million) in revenue, while over 30,000 brands doubled their sales from a year earlier.
Beauty products once again led the pack, with eight brands topping 100 million yuan in sales within 10 minutes, while consumer electronics surged on the back of Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone 17 and Xiaomi Corp’s (OTC:XIACY) 17 series launches.
Within two hours, iPhone sales on Apple’s official Tmall store exceeded last year’s full-day total, Alibaba told SCMP without disclosing full figures.
Other best-selling gadgets, including Apple’s AirPods 4, Watch S11, Xiaomi’s 17 Pro Max, and the Nintendo Switch console, each generated more than 10 million yuan in sales within the first hour.
The sales surge followed a presale phase last week that exceeded expectations, with 35 brands reaching 100 million yuan in sales during the first hour, said Liu Bo, Alibaba vice president and Tmall president.
Now in its 17th year, Singles’ Day has become a multi-week shopping extravaganza.
The company is also offering 50 billion yuan in coupons to members of its 88VIP loyalty program, which targets affluent shoppers, and 15% direct discounts on select products for all users.
Analyst Take
Alibaba stock gained 105% year-to-date as its cloud unit and AI model integration across segments and other enterprises yield value.
Goldman Sachs analysts said Alibaba and other major Chinese firms are set to benefit from expanding overseas, driven by a weaker yuan, cost advantages, and China’s dominance in global supply chains.
The bank noted that Alibaba’s overseas revenue has nearly doubled to 13% in 2023 from 7% in 2021, signaling growing international competitiveness.
Price Action: BABA stock was trading lower by 1.43% to $170.99 premarket at last check Tuesday.
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