Alibaba business booming, but not as much as expected

12 Aug 2015

Alibaba’s latest results show the online giant’s Chinese business continuing to rise, with more than half of its sales now coming through mobile. But an increase in revenues of ‘only’ 28pc is actually a worry.

There are 367m people buying on average 58 products a year on the e-commerce site, with the Alibaba financials showing the volume of goods changing hands on the platform rocketing up 34pc to US$109bn.

The rise in mobile use has been stark, actually, representing just 12pc for the same period in 2013, rising to a third last year.

In fact, all numbers seem to be heading upwards, with almost a third more people actively buying on the platform.

However, it’s not enough to satisfy everyone, with US$3.26bn in revenues shy of analyst estimates of US$3.39bn.

Last May, Alibaba brought in Daniel Zhang as its new CEO amid a profit slash of almost 50pc for that quarter.

According to The New York Times, the decision came after the company reported rather worrying financial figures for its Q1 report, with a net profit of US$463m, which was down 49pc on the same time last year.

Now the Wall Street Journal is pouring cold water over the latest financials, claiming the results come amid concern about how China’s stock market correction and slowing economic conditions will impact retail spending.

Alibaba financial results infographic

Alibaba financials infographic

Main image via Shutterstock

Gordon Hunt was a journalist with Silicon Republic

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