Bright start to 618 event for digital firms

Major digital firms reported a bright start to a mid-year sales event with a rebound in spending on electronic gadgets.

More than 1.5 billion yuan (US$211 million) worth of Apple products, from smartphones, tablets to personal laptops, were sold on JD.com on Monday.

Total iPhone sales surpassed 500 million yuan in the first five hours of the event on Tmall.

Both platforms had offered interest-free instalment plans and enhanced warranties.

The 618 sales campaign has turned into a multi-week event and this year online retailers are offering big discounts to woo consumers gradually returning to their shopping routines.

Tmall said sales in the first 10 hours were 50 percent higher compared with the same period last year with growth coming from the doubling of sales in categories such as cosmetics, home appliances, laptops and electric cars.

As of 2pm on Monday, JD said sales had risen 74 percent over the same period last year as online spending became crucial for the purchase of daily necessities.

The orders handled by its logistics unit also surpassed last year's 24-hour figure as of 3pm on Monday.

More than 25,000 brands from 92 countries and regions are offering over 400,000 new products through Alibaba's import goods subsidiary Tmall Global.

A total of 32 brands reported more than 100 million yuan in Tmall sales in the first 24 hours from midnight on Monday, led by major domestic brands such as Huawei, Midea, Haier, Gree and Xiaomi.

Taobao said sales through its livestream shows topped 5.1 billion yuan over that period.