Alipay a hit with ‘Black Friday’ sales

Overseas transactions through Alipay, Alibaba's payment affiliate, during the "Black Friday" sales this year more than tripled from a year earlier as shopping on foreign-based websites surged.

Clothes, infant and beauty products were the top sellers among Chinese, making for over 80 percent of the total transaction size during the November 28-30 period, Alipay said.

Alipay teamed up with US department stores such as Macy's, Nieman Marcus, Bloomingdale's and Saks Fifth Avenue, allowing Chinese consumers to pay through their Alipay accounts.

Shanghai consumers were the most enthusiastic shoppers — contributing 16.1 percent of the total transaction size, followed by buyers in Beijing, Guangdong and Jiangsu Province.

Last year, China's cross-border e-commerce transaction rose 31.3 percent from a year ago to 3.1 trillion yuan (US$504 billion).