Shanghai-based online media group Sina sold an 18 per cent stake in its Weibo business to e-commerce kingpin Alibaba for US$586 million earlier this year.

The Weibo-linked campaign was important for Alibaba because the company worked with more than 300 brands, which encouraged shoppers to visit the physical stores on the mainland selling their goods, about 30,000 in total, in the days leading up to Double 11.

Adam Xu, a director of Booz and Co Greater China, said promoting shopping information and discussion on transactions, services and products "increases the public's interest in interacting with e-commerce and their understanding of online shopping".

Initial estimates released by Tencent, the mainland's largest listed internet company, showed that its 51buy online shopping website was on track to generate gross merchandise volume of more than 500 million yuan in Double 11 transactions, thanks to an integrated campaign on WeChat.

Yap said 51buy's total number of orders was expected to surpass 600,000 for the day, up 500 per cent from 100,000 orders last year.

Tencent's 51buy campaign on WeChat allowed smartphone users to view, make orders and finish payment directly on the social mobile-messaging platform.

"Although this campaign only targeted four first-tier cities - Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen - total orders via the WeChat channels likely exceeded 80,000 orders for the day," Yap said.

Shenzhen-based Tencent started its campaign, which included major brands such as Apple, Samsung Electronics, Lenovo, Sony and Skyworth, on November 4.