Alibaba makes $5 billion in 90 minutes

The world’s biggest online shopping holiday got off to a roaring start in China.



In the first 90 minutes of the “Singles Day” sale, which kicked off at 12 midnight in Beijing on Nov. 11, total sales exceeded $5 billion, Alibaba reported. About 74% of sales were from mobile phones.



Estimates are that annual shopping extravaganza could reach as high as $11 billion in sales.



“Last year, we handled a record-breaking 80,000 orders at peak per second at peak,” said Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group Zhang. “This year, we expect to handle 120,000 orders and 60,000 payments at peak per second.”



Singles’ Day originated as a student celebration of male and female bachelorhood. But over the years it has been transformed by Alibaba into an online mega-sales event.



This year’s sale features more than six million products from more than 30,000 brands sold by over 40,000 merchants, including such U.S. brands as Nordstrom.

For more on Singles Day, click here.