4 Expert Takes On Alibaba's Singles Day Sale

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA hosted its annual "Singles Day" selling event Sunday, generating the U.S. dollar equivalent of $30.8 billion in gross merchandise volume. Here's what industry experts are saying after the sale. 

SunTrust: Impressive Performance

Alibaba's Singles Day was impressive despite coming at a time of macro headwinds in China, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey's Youssef Squali said in a note. GMV not only rose 27 percent from a year ago due to a strengthening Chinese middle class, but Alibaba sold to customers across "virtually the entire globe," the analyst said.

Alibaba included 29 of its units for the first time and extended promotions to restaurants, karaoke bars and other merchant partners.

Jan Kniffen: Bigger Than US Holidays

Alibaba oversaw $1 billion in sales within the first 90 seconds of Singles Day, Jan Kniffen of J. Rogers Kniffen Worldwide told CNBC Monday. Alibaba ended the day with GMV growth of 27 percent from a year ago, which might have come in a "little lighter" than some expected — but is still larger than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined, Kniffen said. 

CNBC's Kharpal: American Brands Participating

Alibaba highlighted the success of multiple American brands in its sales event, CNBC's Arjun Kharpal said Monday. For example, Apple Inc. AAPL ranked as the top-selling mobile phone player during the event and beat out domestic players like Huawei. A

Starbucks Corporation SBUX set a sales record for its online business as part of a partnership announced in early August.

Related Link: Here's How Alibaba Trades The Month Following Singles' Day

Luria: Alibaba Hit The Law Of Large Numbers

Alibaba's "made up" holiday in some ways may not be as impressive as it seems, Gil Luria of D.A Davidson told CNBC Monday.

The Singles Day sales were advertised weeks before Sunday's kickoff, so the $1 billion in GMV within the first 90 seconds includes orders that could have submitted in October, the analyst said. 

Singles Day event is showing significant deceleration in growth, the analyst said.

While Alibaba posted 27-percent GMV growth in China's currency — or around 22 percent in U.S. dollars — the company has shown as much as 60-percent GMV growth in U.S. dollars in prior years.

This suggests Alibaba hit the law of large numbers and has become so big it will be difficult to show large growth rates, Luria said. 

Related Link: How Did Singles' Day Become A Billion-Dollar Event?

Photo courtesy of Alibaba.