China's online retail giant Alibaba says it has pulled in $9.3bn (£5.9bn) in sales from its annual 'Singles' Day' shopping event.
At the end of Tuesday, the firm said sales had reached 57.1 billion yuan, and that it had shipped 278 million orders - 43% of which were placed on mobile devices.
Last year, Alibaba recorded sales of $5.75bn, shipping 150 million packages.
Singles' Day is the world's biggest online retail sales day.
It compares with "Cyber Monday" in the US, the Monday after Thanksgiving, which is also marketed as a big online shopping day.
"You're seeing the unleashing of the consumption power of the Chinese consumer," said Alibaba Group's executive vice chairman, Joe Tsai.
"We really are witnessing history here because we are seeing the shift of the economy from focused on the state sector to consumption."
Growing market
Alibaba had said it expected to break sales records during the annual event, offering big discounts to boost sales.
"I bet the number [of goods bought] is going to be scary," said Alibaba's executive chairman Jack Ma last week. He estimated that 200 million packages would be shipped from orders made during the day.
The company, which recently listed on the New York Stock Exchange, surpassed that number by 18:00 Beijing time.
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