China's top e-commerce companies led by Alibaba stand to rake in billions of dollars in sales this year as Chinese people celebrate Singles Day Wednesday, cashing in on the world's biggest one-day shopping spree.

Economists pegged the sales at $11 billion and said the figure could still go higher after online shopping companies in Beijing kicked off online shopping at midnight Wednesday.

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Alibaba said total sales exceeded $5billion in the first 90 minutes of the 24-hour sale, with the companies taking in hundreds of millions of orders online.

Analysts estimated that 72 percent of sales were from mobile phones.

"It's literally a 24-hour orgy of consumption," said Michael Zakkour, vice president, China/Asia Pacific Practice at global consulting firm Tompkins International.

Singles Day is like a Valentine's Day holiday in China, which was not being celebrated much until China's largest online retailer Alibaba six years ago turned it into a world shopping festival, luring the singles to shop for themselves and feel good.

Singles Day online shopping was initially the brainchild of Alibaba but as the years went by, it has spread to other e-commerce companies including JD.com, which holds 25 percent of China's online market.

Analysts say whatever sales the Singles Day event may have had by Alibaba, it is a glaring fact that the growing influence of China, as well as the rising middle class, have become an important global market.

Alibaba generated profits at $9.3 billion last year and 2.5 percent of which were part of the overall sales from the Singles Day event, said Sandy Shen, a Beijing-based analyst with the Gartner Group.

Last year alone, Alibaba shipped 278 million packages in 24 hours.

Finance experts say the U.S. Black Friday, where people get up early to shop in the mall, is far different in terms of sales compared to Singles Day, which is completely done online.

"You've literally got hundreds of millions of Chinese who are in their homes, in their offices and on their mobile phones buying. You're standing next to somebody on the subway, but you don't realize they're dropping about $500 on Singles Day sales on their phone," said Zakkour, author of China's Super Consumers.

Today, Singles Day is a phenomenon in China in which the Chinese go on an online shopping spree on that day. E-commerce companies abroad like the United States want to have a piece of online sales, among other countries.

Alibaba, on leading the online shopping festival, aims to tap more local Chinese in its market and make deliveries there. All transactions are being done in Chinese.

TagsAlibaba Holdings, Singles Day, JD.com, online shopping, World Shopping Festival, middle class, e-commerce, US Black Friday, Chinese consumers