Ma's mamas can't keep 11-11 going on forever

My 56-year-old mother likes her beauty sleep. But she stayed up late on Monday, to make sure she could snatch an early bargain on Tuesday, during China's annual online shopping extravaganza.

Those like my mother have now been given a name: "Jack Ma's women" - female shopaholics who cannot resist a bargain - and many believe it was this group especially who were the driving force behind this year's record-breaking sales during Singles' Day, of 57.1 billion yuan ($9.3 billion).

As a reporter covering China's booming e-commerce sector, however, I was certainly not one of the typical target customers for Ma.