Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba says it racked up more than 35 billion yuan or about 5 billion dollars in transactions in the first hour of its annual "Singles' Day" sales blitz...a third more than in the first hour of last year's spree.

After the stroke of midnight, in just 52 seconds, sales volume hit a billion yuan. Last year, it took one minute 12 seconds to hit one billion. This year in 6 minutes and 58 seconds, sales volumn broke 10 billion yuan. Last year, it took over 12 minutes.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba says it racked up more than 35 billion yuan or about 5 billion dollars in transactions in the first hour of its annual "Singles' Day" sales blitz...a third more than in the first hour of last year's spree.

Singles' Day moves more goods than Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the US combined. Sales on Alibaba platforms, which include Tmall and Taobao, are tipped to exceed 136 billion yuan, or 20 billion dollars, up from 14 billion dollars last year. Alibaba said 84 percent of sales in the first two hours were via mobile devices. 

Alibaba launched the super sale in 2009, to encourage consumers without a partner to treat themselves.  Our reporter Hu Nan in Shenzhen has more.