Alibaba revealed that Apple was the top-selling mobile phone brand during its 24-hour long Singles Day shopping event on Sunday, according to CNBC. iPhones accounted for at least 100 million yuan ($14.36 million) in sales during the record-breaking event. 236 other brands also hit the 100 million yuan mark. Alibaba has not revealed a breakdown of which versions of the iPhone were sold.
Alibaba Singles Day was a one-day event that took place on November 11th. The Chinese behemoth raked in $30 billion in sales in the event, and just to repeat that: Alibaba had $30 billion in sales in one day.
Alibaba sales a “positive sign”
Neil Shah, research director at Counterpoint Research, told CNBC that Apple’s Singles Day success was “a positive sign because normally Xiaomi or Huawei has been the top brand”. This year the Chinese mega-brands followed Apple in second and third place respectively. Samsung trailed in 8th place.
Apple coming out on the top of the pile, “shows the Chinese smartphone users are maturing fast and they are looking to buy more high-end devices, which is a good sign not only for Apple but other brands,” Mr Shah added.
Super sales in Alibaba ‘Super Week’
Overall, ‘Singles Day’, also known as ‘Double-11’ as it falls on 11/11, generated $30.8 billion in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV). Sales hit the $1 billion mark after just 1 minute and 25 seconds.
Alibaba is continuing to offer discounts to shoppers during what it is calling ‘Super Week.’ The discounts start at 30%. Some items have as much as 50% of their price taken off.