Charts of the Day: China Spends $45 Billion on ‘Double 11’

Chinese shoppers have spent 314.3 billion yuan ($45.1 billion) so far on this year’s ‘Double 11’ sale, an orgy of online shopping that has become of the Chinese equivalent of Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the U.S.

Chinese consumers cheerfully snapped up everything from smartphones to clothing to groceries online during the event, with Alibaba, JD.com, Suning.com, Pinduoduo and Amazon doing the most business.

Graphic: Gao Baiyu/Caixin

Although China is the center of the action, overseas shoppers were able to take advantage of some of the discounts on international e-commerce sites.

Graphic: Gao Baiyu/Caixin

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which created Double 11 nearly a decade ago on Nov. 11, a date best known as Single’s Day at the time. The sales event was designed to console the country’s masses of lonely singles by offering them discounts on products sold on Alibaba’s various e-commerce sites. The event was a smash. Soon, Alibaba’s competitors joined in on offering sales around Nov. 11. Many begin and end their own sales events well before and after Nov. 11, though it all counts as Double 11.

Alibaba’s gross merchandise volume, a figure that counts the revenue of total orders transacted online, hit a record 213.5 billion yuan this year.

Graphic: Gao Baiyu/Caixin

Despite the new record, Alibaba’s gross merchandise volume grew by just 27%, its lowest ever. Analysts have attributed the slowing growth to rising trade tensions between Beijing and Washington, which have taken a bite out of China’s spending power.

Graphic: Gao Baiyu/Caixin

Contact reporter Jason Tan (jasontan@caixin.com)