Singles' Day shopping gala boosts delivery industry

China handled more than 60 million pieces of express delivery during the Nov 11 "Singles' Day" 24-hour online shopping extravaganza, 1.7 times that of the shopping blowout last year, the State Post Bureau said.

Major e-commerce providers, including Taobao, the popular shopping site heralded as "China's eBay", generated about 180 million merchant orders, an increase of 85 percent compared with last year.

The total amount of transactions by electronic business enterprises during this year's Singles' Day, when sellers promoted discounts to online buyers, was 40 billion yuan ($6.6 billion).

The State Post Bureau said that thanks to adequate preparation, express deliveries are running on schedule despite the increase in orders.

The bureau has invested in the building and transformation of more than 300 dispatch centers nationwide, while increasing the aviation daily capacity by 800 metric tons and expanding railway capacity.