E-commerce challenge

The 35 billion yuan in online sales during Singles Day is not a big deal compared with the sale of houses, a leading real estate developer said.

Ren Zhiqiang, chairman of Huayuan Group, made the remarks on his micro blog on Wednesday when he was challenged by Ma Yun, board chairman of Alibaba Group, China’s biggest e-commerce company. Ma said the Singles Day online buying spree would shock real estate developers.

Alibaba-owned Tmall, China's leading B2C e-commerce site, declared a single day turnover of more than 35 billion yuan ($5.75 billion), an 83 percent increase from last year.