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Alibaba consumers from 192 countries spent the first hour of Singles' Day purchasing at a rate of 256,000 transactions per second. The company had previously hosted a star-studded gala, enlisting Maria Sharapova and Pharrell Williams, to help pump up sales.
Analysts are expecting another record day on Alibaba’s platforms, with Citigroup Inc. predicting a 31 percent rise in transactions to 158 billion yuan ($23.8 billion). While that’s only half of last year’s growth rate, it still dwarfs other events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Billionaire founder Jack Ma is using this year’s event as a testing ground for his plans to revamp China’s $4 trillion traditional retail sector with technology, an experiment that could help the behemoth gain an edge in China’s saturated retail market.
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