This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 13, 2015.

SHANGHAI: E-commerce giant Alibaba said yesterday that Chinese and international consumers spent more than US$14 billion (RM61.04 billion) in the world’s biggest online shopping day, as it sought to soothe worries over China’s slowing economy.

The “Singles Day” on Wednesday has evolved into the globe’s biggest online shopping festival since Alibaba began using the date in 2009 to promote sales through its platforms.

The US$14.3 billion worth of merchandise volume this year smashed through last year’s tally of US$9.3 billion, according to figures from Alibaba.

The total was more than double the US$6.6 billion recorded last year in online buying during the peak US retail period, the five days from the Thanksgiving holiday to the following Monday, according to Internet analytics firm comScore.

Chinese growth hit a 24-year low in 2014 and has slowed further this year, as it tries to shift from investment and exports to domestic consumption.

Alibaba’s online payment unit, Alipay, processed 710 million transactions during the shopping festival, peaking at almost 86,000 per second. — AFP