This year's Singles' Day again beat previous records for purchases by Shanxi customers, with transactions on Alibaba, an e-commerce platform, reaching 1.96 billion yuan ($286.77 million).

According to statistics released by Alibaba, the turnover of online trade in Shanxi on Nov 11 represented year-on-year growth of 28 percent, with the provincial capital Taiyuan contributing the most. Shanxi e-commerce businesses recorded sales of 144 million yuan, up 27 percent on that recorded in 2015, through another online B2C platform, Tmall.com.

Among online consumers in the province, females accounted for 59 percent and purchasers aged between 26 and 35 made up 47 percent, becoming the greatest contributors to the high sales that day.

Cell phones, flat screen televisions, as well as winter clothing and shoes were in particularly high demand among online shoppers using e-business platforms. The top five popular goods that Shanxi online retailers sold on Nov 11 this year were Chinese liquor, low-cut shoes, customized mobile phones, window-cleaning robots and sports shoes.

Singles' Day, celebrated on Nov 11, was originally a day celebrated by young Chinese singletons. The day has been widely observed among shoppers since 2009 for the huge sales promotion that online traders hold to mark the occasion.

Linfen in Shanxi province puts 1,000 electric trucks and vans into use to support logistics following the online shopping season on Nov 11. [Photo/sxrb.com]