Raphael ThysOnline shoppers in China are on course to shatter the record for the most amount of sales made on Singles' Day, the world’s largest 24-hour shopping event.
Alibaba, which has run the country's annual buying frenzy day for the past decade, said sales had exceeded $30bn with a few hours remaining, putting the event on track to set a new record.
The spending binge, which takes place on November 11, has for years eclipsed Cyber Monday in the US for online purchases made on a single day.
What is Singles' Day?
Singles' Day started as an obscure "anti-Valentine's" celebration for single Chinese in the Nineties.
It has since become the biggest 24-hour online shopping event in the calendar, and has been replicated at home and abroad, with Singles' Day promotions found at rivals such as China's JD.com and Pinduoduo as well as South Korea's 11thStreet and Singapore's Qoo10.
Are you single like Bridget? Maybe it's time to buy yourself a present
What does that have to do with single people?
Astute readers will have noticed that the November 11 is written 11.11, or one-one-one-one.
Known in China as "bare sticks holiday" because of how it looks numerically, Singles' Day began as an anti-Valentine's Day when students at Nanjing University started celebrating their singledom.
It was then adopted by e-commerce giant Alibaba (China's equivalent of Amazon) in 2009 and it has now become a day when everyone, regardless of their single status, buys themselves gifts.
It's also known as Bachelors' Day because of China's gender imbalance. The country's one-child policy, which it ended in 2015 in favour of a two-child policy, along with the cultural and economic pressures for that child to be a son, has led to a male surplus.
Out of China’s population of 1.4 billion, there are nearly 34 million more men than women. By 2030, it is estimated that one-in-four Chinese men in their late 30s will never have married.
Taylor Swift performing at Alibaba's 2019 Singles' Day Credit: VCG
How did Singles' Day become a shopping holiday?
Alibaba chiefs spotted the commercial opportunity in Singles' Day back in 2009 and began launching “Double 11” deals just as online shopping was starting to explode. It was also seen as a chance to boost sales in the lull between China’s Golden Week national holiday in October and the Christmas season.
In that first year consumers spent 50 million yuan (about £5m) and 27 merchants offered discounts. By 2011 – which was dubbed the Singles' Day of the Century because it was 11.11.11 – more than £500m was spent across Alibaba's platform during the day.
When sales almost quadrupled the following year, Alibaba trademarked Singles' Day. Some of the featured sales centre around singledom, such as boyfriend pillows and single travel tickets, but the day has now widened to an all-inclusive shopping holiday.
The Hangzhou-based firm, founded by eccentric businessman and China's richest man Jack Ma, now refers to Singles' Day as the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival.
Is Singles' Day bigger than Black Friday?
Singles' Day laughs in the face of Black Friday. Last year Chinese consumers treated themselves to more than £30bn worth of goods from Alibaba in just 24 hours.
By comparison, Black Friday pulled in $6.2bn in online sales in the US last year, according to Adobe Analytics which analysed 80 of the top 100 US online retailers.
How much does each person spend?
Alibaba has said it expects more than 500 million users to make purchases this year, about 100 million more than last year.
While sales growth for Alibaba on Singles' Day has weakened as China's economy slowed, Citic Securities forecasts sales to rise 20pc to 25pc this year.
A 2015 survey of 1,000 Chinese internet users, conducted by Nielsen, found that the average consumer planned to spend 1,761 yuan (£181) during Singles' Day.