Zhuoran Zhuang, Head of VR programs at Alibaba, said, the company is exploring the next generation shopping experiences continuously, and plans to deliver even more immersive commerce experiences in the near future.

According to Alibaba, 30,000 people tried the VR shopping platform, an hour after the initial launch.

Alibaba has beaten sales records

Photo Credit — HTC Vive China

The e-commerce giant said this year’s one-day sales reached 121bn yuan ($18 billion). Last year’s sales were worth $14.3 billion. 82% of purchases were made on mobile phones.

Alibaba’s Tmall 11/11 global shopping festival is held once in a year on 11 November. The day is celebrated as Singles Day and referred as Double Eleven because of its date.

HTC is upgrading Vive VR headset with a wireless kit

Photo Credit — HTC Vive China

At the Tmall 11/11 global shopping event HTC has also launched its new upgrade kit that enables Vive VR headset to be used wirelessly.

The clip-on peripheral was developed by TPCAST, a startup inside HTC’s Vive X accelerator program. The kit is empowered by a rechargeable battery pack and includes a wireless system that transmits the HDMI and USB signal to the headset.

Photo Credit — HTC Vive

“We are very proud that a Vive X team, has developed such an impactful product in such a short time,” said Graylin. “It will allow Vive customers worldwide to gain untethered mobility in VR from their existing devices.”

TPCAST says the wireless peripheral has a latency of 15 ms, costs CNY 1,499 ($220) in China and will be out in the market by early 2017. There is no word on the availability of the kit in North America or Europe.