E-commerce giant Alibaba made another record in its sales yesterday. Alibaba held the 11.11 Shopping Festival, which is equivalent to Cyber Monday shopping in the US, for 24 hours. When last year's sales totaled CNY19.1 billion or USD3.1 billion in 24 hours, this year's shopping festival in the mainland was able to generate more than last year's figure.
Based on transactions data by online payment services Alipay, six minutes after midnight in China saw payments of over RMB1 billion or USD164 million. Information technology news site The Next Web noted that this feat took 37 minutes last year. Total transactions in the first hour of the shopping festival via Alipay was over RMB6 billion or USD1 billion, which was one-third of last year's figures.
Mobile transactions on the other hand went past CNY100 million or USD16.4 million in the first 4 minutes of the Chinese shopping festival.
As Alibaba closes in on its expected November 15 debut on the New York Stock Exchange, the e-commerce company was confident that it could also fare better even if it was overshadowed by Twitter Inc. Twitter recently went public, but dwarfs against Alibaba's company size, significance and revenue, said CNBC.
Beijing-based angel investor Benjamin Joffe at Asia-focused consultancy Plus8Star said, "Alibaba is a one-time thing. How often do you list a $100 billion company? If the underwriters decide not to optimize the valuation, they can create a 'successful' story. But the founders leave money on the table."
International IPO market research firm Renaissance Capital principal Kathleen Smith said, "A major attraction for the Chinese Internet giant is the robust U.S. market, and the sheer size and depth of the U.S. exchanges. The bottom line is that Chinese entrepreneurs feel investors in the U.S. have a better understanding of their business. They believe they can get a better valuation as a result."
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