Brands rake in millions as Alibaba’s Singles’ Day enters last stretch

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Alibaba said that nearly 400 brands, including Apple Inc and L’Oreal SA, have raked in more than $15 million in sales each during its Singles Day extravaganza, as the toned-down event headed into its final hours on Thursday.

Alibaba Group turned China’s informal Singles’ Day into a shopping event in 2009 and built it into the world’s biggest online sales fest, dwarfing Cyber Monday in the United States.

But the e-commerce giant this year has toned down nL4N2RO2XZ the marketing hype amid stringent regulatory scrutiny, opting not to provide real-time sales data and saying its focus was on sustainable growth this year.