Major Chinese e-commerce player JD has seen a flurry of consumers from lower-tier cities buy goods on its “buy 9.9, enjoy free shipping” channel, which attracted more than 100 times the number of shoppers year-on-year within the first hour of the 618 shopping festival, with over 75% of users from third tier and lower cities. The company posted the initial results on its official WeChat account, adding that big brands including Apple and Xiaomi topped RMB 100 million ($13.8 million) in transaction value “soon” after the beginning of the mid-year shopping festival. Rival Alibaba meanwhile said about 185 brands, also including Apple and Xiaomi, exceeded RMB 100 million in total merchandise volume on Tmall as of 9 p.m. on May 31. This year, Chinese online retailers have set different timelines for the ongoing shopping bonanza while tending to provide ambiguous data, which has made it harder to compare performance year-to-year. [JD; Jiemian, in Chinese]