Alibaba Made $1 Billion in Two Minutes on "Singles Day"
Alibaba raked in $1 billion in product sales in just the first two minutes of its annual "Singles Day." In the first hour that number was upwards of $10 billion!
The company's president Michael Evans says these figures aren't a surprise. The day-long e-commerce event put on by the Chinese tech giant has become bigger than Black Friday and Cyber Monday...combined!
“There’s been a great deal of interest in this year’s Singles Day because we’ve changed many features of it,” Evans said. “This is not just about buying and selling products, this is about having fun. It’s a very social experience.”
The festival held on November 11th, or 11/11, was first conceived in the 1990s as a sort-of holiday for uncoupled people, where they would celebrate their relationship status by buying themselves a few gifts. But the day was taken over by Alibaba in 2009 and has grown in popularity since. Last year the company brought in $17.8 billion, and early indications were that this year would surpass that.
As many as 600 million consumers are expected to partake in the shopping festival, with over 140,000 brands participating and more than 15 million products up for sale. This year Alibaba has expanded its efforts to make the event a fun affair. The company integrated an interactive component for shoppers by introducing a “Pokemon Go”-type augmented reality game.
“The consumer on the mobile phone will track a cat and try to find it. We’ll lead them to an offline store, and there they’ll either get a promotion or be able to get a discount on a product,” Evans said. “It’s really gamification and making it fun.”
Caitlin Clark is heading to the Indiana Fever, the number one draft pick and the highest-scoring college basketball player of all time. And while she may not be getting millions from the WNBA, there's a few ways she'll net compensation for her generational talents.
Author of 'Clean Meat,' Paul Shapiro joins Cheddar to discuss how the cellular agricultural revolution helps lower rates of foodborne illness and greatly improves environmental sustainability. Plus, how his company The Better Meat Co. is bringing healthier food options to the table.
Recent headlines might make it sound like World War III is imminent, but when it comes to your finances, it's not the time to panic. The market is coming off its longest winning streak since 2011.
You may have noticed fewer new venture capital-backed startups (like Airbnb or Uber) lately. The market slowed to a crawl after 2021, but things are expected to take off again in 2025.
Corporate earnings season is underway, that time when companies share their billions in sales or double-digit profits. But the data shows even companies are struggling with high inflation and interest rates.
Boeing continues their terrifying trend of having their planes fall apart mid-flight, inflation — checks notes — is still up and the future of AI looks terrifying. Cheery!
Food waste – uneaten scraps or leftovers sent to landfills – is responsible for 10% of global emissions. Mill, a new product from the co-founder of Nest, thinks technology can play a role in eliminating it.
By the time the 2024 election is over, be prepared to see some form of a recession – but this shouldn’t be as bad as what we experienced in 2020 or 2008.
International Master Alice Lee defeated grandmaster Irina Krush to win the American Cup – becoming one of the best women players in the world in the process – but she’s not stopping there.
