Shanghai's May 5 Shopping Festival started on May 1 and will last through June, taking in key festivals such as May Day, Children's Day and the Dragon Boat Festival.

According to the Shanghai Commission of Commerce, the total consumer sales in Shanghai reached 15.68 billion yuan ($2.22 billion) 24 hours after the shopping festival started at 8 pm on Monday.

By the afternoon of May 5, the total amount of consumer spending in the city had exceeded 10 billion yuan, according to the Shanghai Commission of Commerce.

Besides rolling out details of the shopping festival, the event raised the curtain on a range of promotional activities such as new product global launches in Shanghai.

Participating e-commerce giants Alibaba, Meituan, Suning and Pinduoduo reportedly have agreed to offer 6.7 billion yuan in coupons.

Eager to boost its economic growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, Shanghai aims to create a landmark activity in the international shopping city by holding the shopping festival, and achieve a brand new consumer festival for a vast number of businesses and consumers.