Alibaba 56,000 crores

Alibaba said a record $2 billion of goods were sold in the first hour of its Singles Day shopping bonanza in China today, maintaining the day’s dominance as the world’s biggest retail event as it went global for the first time.

The e-commerce giant said that amount was more than a third of the $5.8 billion full-day sales recorded on the same day last year and analysts say this year will blow that out of the water.