China's Singles' Day shopping bonanza kicked off on Tuesday with Alibaba selling $2 billion worth of goods in the first hour of the sale , and passing the $6 billion mark a few hours later.

Xiaomi also claimed some impressive numbers that it received by the end of the Singles' Day sale. Hugo Barra, Vice President, Xiaomi Global in a tweet claimed that the company sold 1.16 million Mi phones in 24 hours. Barra had said, "Xiaomi Singles Day final record: 1.16 million Mi phones sold, ¥1.56B (US$ 254M) in sales in 24 hours"

Barra also claimed that the company reached $16 million worth of sales within the first 5 minutes (precisely 4 minutes and 48 seconds). Further, the Chinese handset brand broke its last year full day sales record of $90 million in just four hours of the Singles' Day sale. The company said it went on to touch a new $254 million sales record by the end of the Singles' Day sale.

At the halfway mark (12 hours into the sale), Xiaomi had revealed it had sold 720,000 Mi phones, with $163 million worth of sales overall. TechCrunch noted the breakup of the numbers shared by Barra, saying, "Behind the sales numbers, Xiaomi said it had sold some 720,000 units by midday. Of that figure, around 250,000 were its flagship $300 Mi4 device, with 460,000 units of its $150 Redmi device snapped up. In addition, it says it sold 25,000 of its Mi TVs."

An earlier report on Tuesday suggested that the merchants were feeling pressure from Alibaba's Tmall to "boost the day's figures with heavy discounts and delayed recognition of earlier sales." Merchants told Reuters that there was no obligation to take part in the festival, but if they did, the only discount option was 50 percent or more.

Xiaomi on Monday was reported to be planning to raise about $1.5 billion in its fifth round of financing. The Chinese brand had shipped roughly 18 million smartphones in the third quarter, an increase of 18 percent from the previous quarter.

(Also see: Xiaomi Replaces Huawei as Third-Largest Smartphone Maker: Report)

In India, Flipkart last month held its Big Billion Day Sale - an online sale that was advertised heavily through ad nauseum on TV, in print and online. The largest e-commerce giant of India had claimed that it achieved $100 million (Rs. 615 crores approximately) in sales (GMV) in 10 hours.