A big screen shows live data of gross merchandise volume of the 2015 Tmall Global Shopping Festival on Nov 11, 2015. [Photo/IC]

4. Nov 11: China's e-commerce roars on Singles' Day

E-commerce giant Alibaba Group set a new record for gross merchandise volume, reaching 10 billion yuan ($1.57 billion) within 12 minutes and 28 seconds after the festival started on Nov 11, a shopping event created by Alibaba itself a few years ago.

According to statistics from Tmall, this year's carnival covered 232 countries and regions, involving more than 5,000 overseas brands.

Cainiao Network, the logistics arm of Alibaba, reported 467 million delivery orders, much higher than last year's 278 million. Last year, it took 38 minutes and 28 seconds to reach that mark.