Online payment companies help to give offline stores a sales boost

Chinese e-commerce companies have done it again. Hot on the heels of Singles Day, the Nov 11 shopping fest that this year saw Alibaba alone rake in 91.2 billion yuan ($14.1 billion) in sales in just 24 hours, another event on Saturday again had tills ringing.

Yet rather than boosting sales for online retailers, this time the magic worked for brick-and-mortar businesses.