We all love a good bargain, but nothing simply comes close to the massive purchasing power and determination of Chinese shoppers on their annual Singles' Day. This year's twenty-four-hour shopping rush saw more sales records broken, and according to our Oh Soo-young, South Korean beauty products were among some of the bestselling items. It took less than two minutes for Chinese shoppers to spend one billion dollars after the clock struck midnight on Sunday, marking the start of the country's massive annual spending event, known as Singles' Day.
According to local e-commerce giant Alibaba, shoppers were faster and more determined than ever to grab a bargain on its online bazaars.
Sales hit ten billion dollars just an hour into the shopping frenzy -- that's five minutes and 21 seconds faster than last year and ten minutes faster than 2015.
It seems consumers had a huge appetite for digital products, with Apple, Xiaomi and Dyson topping sales during the first hour.
The best selling products from overseas came from Japan, the United States and South Korea.
Among South Korean products, facial masks, perfumes and other cosmetics products were said to have been the most popular.
Compared to the year before, Korean beauty brands LG Household and Healthcare and Innisfree saw sales figures jump 58 percent and 83 percent respectively.
Alibaba says over the 24-hour period, orders exceeded one billion shipments worth some 30.8 billion dollars.
That marks a 27 percent increase from 2017.
Despite the record-breaking figure, the margin of growth has fallen, perhaps reflecting concerns that consumer sentiment is dwindling in the world's second largest economy,... amid trade tensions with the United States.
Still, the sheer scope of the shopping event is bigger than the transaction volume of Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.
This year marked the tenth anniversary of the Single's Day festival,.... also known as Double 11s day,... as it falls on November eleventh.
Oh Soo-young, Arirang News.