The "618 Shopping Festival" this year kicked off on Monday with a number of e-commerce players introducing various schemes to boost their mid-year performance, and consumers actively contributing to the economic recovery, hurt by the coronavirus epidemic, through online shopping.

The shopping spree began June 1 midnight, with Alibaba's Tmall achieving a record turnover of two billion yuan (2.8 billion U.S. dollars) in just one hour and 29 minutes. 

Tmall said it has had over 1.4 million live streams since the pre-sale of the festival on May 25, with over 300 celebrities and over 600 entrepreneurs live streaming and promoting products on the platform.

Read more: Live streaming – key for shopping platforms to attract '618' customers

JD.com, the company behind the festival, also fully fired up the mid-year battleground. During the first hour of the start-off, smartphones and home appliances emerged as the most popular products among costumers. 

The turnover of Apple's entire series was three times the same period last year, and 10,000 units of Huawei Enjoy Z smartphone were sold in just four minutes, said JD.com.

The pandemic cannot stop consumers' love for life. Sales of home appliances like TV and vacuum cleaner also contributed a major part of JD's online e-commerce battle.

In addition, the overall transaction volume of JD supermarket in the first 10 minutes increased by more than 300 percent year on year. Maternal and infant products, nuts and dried food, wine, and pet products are among the most favored products.

Other e-commerce players including Suning. com and Pinduoduo also came up with discounts, coupons and other money-saving tips during the festival to restore consumers' confidence hit by the coronavirus.