The record was helped by the strength of the Chinese yuan versus the US dollar, but it also stemmed from growing access to online shopping in China. Alibaba's Joseph Tsai attributed the surge to "rising disposable incomes" among the over 300 million middle-class buyers in the country. Imagine if the vast majority of the US population saw a dramatic boost in its spending power and you'll get a sense for how Alibaba could manage this feat.

The hype swirling around the event certainly helped as well. Alibaba started Singles' Day as a promo for lonely hearts, but it quickly grew into an all-encompassing sales event that makes Black Friday seem timid. This year, Alibaba held a launch event with western stars like Nicole Kidman and Pharrell Williams joining Chinese celebrities like actress Zhang Ziyi. It wanted buyers to get excited about spending money, and this clearly paid off.

Alibaba and its rivals can't rest easily. There are concerns that online shopping may soon hit a wall, and Alibaba even turned 100,000 retail stores into internet purchasing hubs in a bid to attract shoppers who might have ignored the online blitz. That still leaves potential for significant growth as China's middle class grows, though, and those that are already entrenched in the middle class may spend more online as they become comfortable with shopping from home.