Alibaba Buyers Unimpressed By Record Singles Day Sales

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA) shattered its Singles Day record Sunday with 213.5 billion yuan, or $30.8 billion, in gross merchandise value.

The annual 24-hour e-commerce event notched $1 billion in the first 85 seconds and nearly $10 billion in the first hour to ultimately surpass last year’s $25.3 billion benchmark. Accounting for weakened Chinese currency, the figures represent 27-percent year-over-year progress.

The sale far exceeded any U.S. shopping holiday, according to CNBC. In fact, Business Insider said Singles Day likely recorded more sales in the first 10 minutes ($4.68 billion) than Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) saw during its 36-hour Prime Day this year.

Winners And Losers

Alibaba’s fortunes made rival stocks tremor. Baozun Inc (NASDAQ: BZUN) plunged 13.5 percent premarket after reporting just $940 million in Singles Day sales. Amazon fell 1.1 percent.

The achievement also bolstered firms distributing discounted goods through the platform. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and 236 other U.S. brands exceeded 100 million yuan, or $14.36 million, in sales on Alibaba alone. More than 180,000 brands participated.

The sales record also relieved market concerns that the U.S.-China trade war has depressed Chinese consumer demands, according to CNBC. 

“Today we witnessed the strength and rise of China’s consumption economy and consumers’ continued pursuit to upgrade their everyday lifestyles,” Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang said in a press release.

Implications For Baba

The sales achievements seemed to do little for Alibaba, though. The stock traded lower Monday — continuing its 21-percent year-to-date plunge.

The online company is highly exposed to U.S. tensions and is attempting to facilitate global trade in China. On Singles Day alone, it connected more than 40 percent of consumers to international brands and saw transactions between 230 countries.

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