E-Commerce propels singles day sales

Retailers take in over $1 billion an hour on 11/11 as compiled data are used to focus on consumers

Over 168 billion yuan in 24 hours - that translates into $1 billion per hour being spent by bargain hunters during the largest single-day shopping festival on Nov 11.

That sheer number almost tripled the size of last year's Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the United States combined and accounted for 5 percent of China's total retail sales of consumer goods in October, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.