It looks like Alibaba is on track for yet another record-breaking Singles Day.

Sales on the e-commerce giant's platforms (Taobao and Tmall) reached RMB10 billion (USD1.5 billion) in just three minutes shortly after the clock struck midnight in the wee hours of this morning. It easily smashed last year's record-breaking time of seven minutes. 

By the first hour, earnings had reahed RMB57.1 billion (USD8.58 billion).

Mobile sales are already dominating this year, with 93 percent of today's early morning transactions taking place from smartphone devices.

This year there are Double 11 promotions for more than 15 million products available on Taobao and Tmall alone. 

Singles Day is a sort of faux holiday that is a bit like China's answer to Cyber Monday. In recent years, the e-commerce giant has brought out big stars for the Singles Day Gala, with Pharrell Williams, Nicole Kidman, Maria Sharapova, Kris Wu and Karen Mok all making appearances along with Alibaba founder Jack Ma last night in Shanghai.

Alibaba went on to earn a total of USD17.8 billion in 11/11 sales last year.

[Images via China Daily]

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