How many Thai durians can Alibaba sell in one minute?

ThaigerPublished: 08:54, 21 April 2018| Updated: 08:57, 21 April 2018

237 1 minute read

Thai durian sold like hot cakes after Jack Ma showed the magic of e-commerce during his visit to Thailand by selling 80,000 golden pillow durians on his online platform T-mall within one minute.

One minute!

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While Ma was in Thailand to make a mega-deal on investment on Thursday, Commerce Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong gifted the founder of China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba a fresh “golden pillow”, the Kingdom’s most famous variety of durian.

Alibaba has signed a deal for durian worth USD$428 million (13.4 billion baht) with the Thai government, according to China’s state-run Xinhua News yesterday.

Ma said at a press interview in Bangkok on Thursday that during the pre-order two days before the launch, there were over 60,000 orders and immediately 40,000 durians were sold, which rose to 80,000 within a minute.

The “golden pillow” durian, Thailand’s most well-known export variety, has been sold on Alibaba’s online supermarket since Wednesday, a day before Ma signed four memoranda of understanding with the Thai government on trade, investment, support for e-commerce and tourism.

The Chinese e-commerce giant is reportedly splashing about USD$330 million in Thailand, as it aims to tap Chinese consumers’ appetite for the Southeast nation’s agricultural goods and its tourism market.