“The Double Eleven, a ‘festival’ made by Chinese people, is now shoulder to shoulder with Western festivals like Christmas or Valentine’s Day, and perhaps even overpowers them,” the newspaper said in its editorial today, describing the event as the “Mount Everest of e-commerce”.

The shopping spree has its roots in China’s Single’s Day, on November 11 (11/11). The event began at universities in Nanjing in the 1990s as a way for students to celebrate being single as it coincides with the figure 1 recurring four times within the date.

However, leading e-commerce platforms and large retailers have increasingly taken advantage of the day to promote their products online in recent years, with the event quickly becoming a nationwide shopping spree.

Last year, leading e-commerce portal Alibaba’s two online platforms recorded sales of 35 billion yuan on the Double Eleven shopping day, about 2 ½ times that of Cyber Monday, a similar sale in the United States. A total of 240 million users were estimated to have purchased at least one item.

“The online shopping festival’s tremendous influence has begun to permeate overseas. It might slowly impact consumers around the world in the same way as Valentine’s Day,” claimed.

Alibaba and its rival JD.com, which together account for more than 70 per cent of China’s e-commerce market share, are the largest promoters of Double Eleven– and the biggest beneficiaries. Both companies launched initial public offerings in the US earlier this year to propel their future expansions.

Alibaba’s stock has surged 27 per cent over the past two months to US$119.15, bringing the company’s market value to surpass that of multinational retailer Walmart.

“Despite clinging problems of fake products, misleading discounts, and jammed logistics … [the stock growth] reflects how the US and world investors really view Alibaba,” the newspaper said.

JD.com’s stock reached US$26.25 on Monday, up from US$20.9 in its May IPO.