(Yicai) May 21 -- Alibaba Group Holding's e-commerce platform Tmall revealed promising sales for the first day of 618, the country's second-largest annual shopping festival. In the first hour, Apple raked in over CNY1.5 billion (USD200 million) in sales.

Some 59 brands, including 11 beauty brands such as Proya, Lancome, L'Oreal, Estee Lauder, and 23 home appliance brands such as Dyson, Haier, Hisense, and Xiaomi, exceeded CNY100 million (USD13.8 million) in sales from 8 p.m. to midnight yesterday when the nearly one-month-long campaign of discounts began.

The owner of Tmall and Taobao has stepped up its efforts to grow its core segment of e-commerce after logging a 96 percent slump in net income to CNY919 million (USD129.6 million) in the first quarter from a year ago amid falling valuations of equity investments.

This year, Tmall has made its largest-ever investment to fatten big coupons for beauty products, according to public information. Besides added subsidies, the platform for established brands has streamlined user experience by canceling pre-sales to quicken delivery.

The deepened discounts are working. Among the items that enjoy Tmall's CNY10 billion (USD1.4 billion) subsidy policy, the gross merchandise volume soared by almost seven times in the first hour of sales from a year ago. Evidently, Apple's surging sales may have something to do with its CNY1,400 (USD197) discount as the lowest price for a 128GB iPhone 15 at the official flagship store is just CNY4,599.

Besides Apple, phone brands Huawei, Xiaomi, and Vivo reached sales exceeding CNY100 million in the first hour. Meanwhile, luxury fashion brands such as MiuMiu, Valentino, Marni, and Lemaire recorded first-hour sales that surpassed last year's total for the first day. In addition, sales of alcoholic beverages through live streaming skyrocketed by more than 14 times that evening.

Even user visits jumped by 14 times year-over-year. Tmall has invested more in user traffic this year by upgrading its cooperation with over 200 internet platforms, including Tencent Holding's advertising arm, Quora-like Zhihu, and video platform Bilibili.

Editor: Emmi Laine