Alibaba’s ‘Single’s Day’ Sale Beats ‘Cyber Monday’; Makes $7 Billion So Far

Alibaba's Jack Ma may be a married man but he definitely knows how to celebrate "Singles Day."

On account of the made-up Chinese holiday - where singles celebrate their relationship status - Alibaba holds a special sales and promotion event on its online market places annually and this year, the company has crossed $7 billion in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) so far.

Alibaba managed to make more than $1 billion in 17 minutes and 11 seconds in the first hour of the day itself. The company reached $2 billion soon and broke its own 2013 record earlier today.

To put it in comparison, total retail sales over the Thanksgiving weekend and Black Friday was around $12.3 billion last year while the total sales on "Cyber Monday" was around $2.3 billion. Alibaba's "Single's Day" sale event beat 2013's "Cyber Monday" within the fist few hours of the event, according to Fortune.

Alibaba expects to reach a GMV of $8.65 billion this year, up from the $5.5 billion recorded last year. "Single's day" is a crucial festival of sorts for Chinese companies. The event ws started by a group of college students' who initially started celebrating it as "Bachelors day" but over the years, the gender norms receded and it became a festival for all singles in the country.

Many people buy gifts for themselves on "Single's Day" and that became a fast moving trend. Aping the West's festival-based sale strategies, Alibaba started it in 2009 and has been continuing the trend since then. The sale has been getting better every year and especially with its NYSE debut this year, the strong sales don't come as a surprise.

Alibaba debuted on the New York Stock Exchange Sep 19 under the ticker sign BABA and raised a record $25 billion in its Initial Public Offering (IPO). The company sold 100 million shares in the first 20 minutes of trading.