With a little help from James Bond and Frank Underwood, Alibaba smashes its sales record on Singles' Day with takings of nearly US$9bn and rising

The Singles' Day shopping festival was started by Alibaba on November 11, 2009.

--

The Alibaba gala, the first for the shopping "festival", was broadcast live online and on Hunan TV.
Pop singers, actors and other celebrities were invited on the show to play games and promote products.

JD.com, another major online shopping site, also hosted a gala as a “warm-up” for the shopping event.
It was screened on state television on Tuesday.
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/money-wealth/article/1877664/alibabas-jack-ma-counts-chinese-premier-li-keqiang-among-his