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Singles' Day sets new record at £24bn but growth slows

Chinese online retail giant Alibaba (Berlin: AHLA.BE - news) chalked up nearly £24bn in sales as its annual 24-hour Singles' Day event broke new records.

The 213.5bn yuan (£23.8bn) revenue haul was 27% higher than last year, though this represented the slowest rate of growth in the event's 10-year history - after a rise of 39% in 2017.

Shoppers in China and across the world snapped up items such as iPhones and furniture as well as everyday goods such as milk powder.

The year it was kicked off with a launch featuring celebrities such as Mariah Carey.

Singles' Day, also known as Double 11, is the world's biggest online sales date, outstripping Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales combined.

It was originally a novelty student event to celebrate being single, but has since grown into a month-long online shopping festival that peaks with a 24-hour event on 11 November.

This year it took just under 16 hours for sales to surpass the previous year's full-day sales record of 168 billion yuan (£18.7bn).

But the slowing rate of annual growth comes as Alibaba faces a weaker sales outlook amid trade tensions between China and the US that are pressuring China's economy.

This was reflected in some of the sales patterns seen in Sunday's event, with small appliances and cosmetics seeing strong growth but demand for big-ticket items slowing.

That was seen as a consequence of the downturn in China's housing market - meaning there is less need for large household appliances.

The latest Singles' Day is expected to be the last with founder and chairman Jack Ma at the helm, with chief executive Daniel Zhang expected to take over as chairman next September.

Mr Zhang said at the Singles' Day event: "Today we reached 200 billion (yuan). But we have to change.

"We have to continue to change to reach 300 billion or 500 billion."