Alibaba, JD report booming Singles Day sales

Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com reported nearly $70 billion in sales  on world's busiest online shopping day event named Monday Singles Day.

The day was a temporary relief to retailers that face fading demand as Chinese consumers tighten their belts being anxious over slowing economic growth and the tariff war with US.

Singles Day was creat in the 1990's by university students as an alternative to Valentine's Day for people without romantic partners.

Alibaba adopted it as a marketing tool. Soon the rivals including JD.com, and electronics seller Suning joined in.

The tactic has caught the attraction in other Asian countries too.

The creators picked November 11 because the date is written with four singles - '11 11.'

On Monday, retailers offered discounts on every kind of goods starting from smartphones to craft beer to health care packages.

Alibaba said sales by merchants on its platforms totaled 268.4 billion yuan ($38.3 billion) for the 24 hours ending at midnight Monday after passing its 2018 total before 6 p.m while JD.com said its sales were 204.4 billion yuan ($29.1 billion).

Alibaba kicked off the event Sunday night with a concert by Taylor Swift at a Shanghai stadium.

E-commerce grew rapidly in China due to lack of traditional retailing networks and less government efforts to promote internet use. The country has the biggest online population with more than 800 million web users.

Alibaba, JD.com, Baidu and other internet giants have expanded into consumer finance, entertainment and offline retailing.