Singles Day: Alibaba closes in on record sales

BBC

E-commerce giant Alibaba looks set to smash[1] the sales record for its annual Singles Day event.

About 12 hours into the event, sales had reached 82.4bn yuan ($12.1bn; £10bn), the firm said. Last year's record was $14.3bn.

But some have questioned the accuracy of the numbers, amid claims of inflated[过高的;夸张的;言过其实的] sales data at online retailers across China.

Merchants passing off[2] counterfeit goods as genuine is also an industry problem.

Alibaba reported 85% of purchases had been made on mobile phones during Singles Day.

Technology shift

The company has also been experimenting with new technology including augmented reality[增强现实] and virtual reality[虚拟现实] to give shoppers other ways of buying items.

And the event had a blistering[极快的;极热的] start with sales hitting $5bn (£4bn) in the first hour, Alibaba said, though that total included pre-orders made by customers who could "lock in" prices. It took 90 minutes to hit that milestone in 2015.

Singles Day is held every year on 11 November. The day is also referred to as Double Eleven because of its date.

Originally claimed as a celebration for China's young singletons, Alibaba turned it into a shopping bonanza[3] in 2009.

While Alibaba is undeniably the driving force behind the event, other retailers have also stared to piggyback[4] off the idea, including extending the concept to Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Alibaba's rival JD.com, which focuses more on electronics, reported receiving more orders in the first nine hours of trading on Friday than it had done during the whole of Singles Day 2014.

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注释

[1]smash：to do much better than the best or fastest result recorded previously （轻松）打破（纪录）

Petersen smashed the 400 metres record by over half a second.

彼得森以快了半秒多的成绩轻松打破了400米纪录。

[2]pass off 拿(假货)卖给 (on somebody)

[3]bonanza [bə'nænzə]

a situation from which large profits are made 获利之道；发财的机会

The rise in house prices meant that those who were selling enjoyed a bonanza.

房价的上升意味着那些卖房者发了大财。

April was a bonanza month for car sales.

4月份是汽车销售的旺季。

[4]piggyback：to use something that someone else has made or done in order to get an advantage 沾光，搭便车

Everyone wants to piggyback on the phenomenal success of the TV series.

每个人都想借《X档案》大获成功的机会沾点光。

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又是一年双十一，

你买买买了吗

今天的文章简短易懂，

把时间统统留给你

买买买~

（｡ò ∀ ó｡）

顺便回顾一下去年的文章，

China Singles' Day 2015 Set to Surpass Last Year's Records

Are Consumers Truly Benefiting from "Double Eleven"?(有音频)

格式感人，

阅读量更感人...

♥

还有，

昨天一直在问妞妞是谁，

妞妞在这呀

↓↓↓

♥

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