Siblings across the strait catch the shopping bug

It was perhaps as predictable as an older sister enviously eyeing her sibling's expensive new mink coat and deciding she must have one: Taiwan people have decided that they, too, must get in on the Singles Day act.

Leading e-shopping websites on the island, including Yahoo, Rakuten and Gomaji, held sales on Nov 11, emulating the mainland's shopping binge on platforms such as Taobao and JD.

Yahoo offered discounts of up to 50 percent for 10 days following the event, while Japan-based Rakuten featured more than 10,000 discounted items from about 400 vendors, including Apple products. Taiwan-based ET Mall promoted merchandise with discounts ofupto 11 percent, and Gomaji handed out coupons worth 8 million New Taiwan dollars ($244,000).

Posters for Singles Day sales were seen at subway stations in Taipei and on social media, including Twitter and Facebook.

Taiwan media covered the mainland's online shopping splurge, with news channels reporting on a TV gala on the eve of Nov 11 hosted by Alibaba, the mainland's leading e-shopping platform.

Singles Day started as an excuse for the unattached to celebrate-or poke fun at－their status in the 1990s, but it has evolved into an online shopping spectacle for everyone as e-commerce companies court discount-savvy online shoppers.

This year, in the first twelve-and-a-half minutes after midnight on Nov 11, Alibaba recorded sales of 10 billion yuan. Last year, it took 38 minutes to hit the 10 billion yuan mark.

Rakuten announced in a press release on Nov 11 afternoon that visits to its website increased by 50 percent from the previous day, and sales doubled for high-end electronics, such as cell phones and digital cameras.