Alibaba Group’s Retail Sales Surge 38 Pct In Q4

In its latest quarter, Alibaba Group saw its sales come out ahead of expectations, spiking 38 percent. The Chinese online shopping company had revenue of $23.19 billion or 161.45 billion yuan in the quarter concluding on Dec. 31, which was higher than 117.28 billion yuan a year prior. Analysts had forecasted 159.7 billion yuan in sales, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Mobile monthly active users on the Chinese retail marketplace totaled 824 million, which was 39 percent higher than the prior year, while annual active consumers clocked in at 711 million. Earnings per American depositary share were 19.55 yuan, while they were 12.64 yuan a year prior.

Daniel Zhang, Chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, said in an earnings press release, “Alibaba Group experienced robust growth across our business this past quarter. Our digital economy reached new heights with another record 11.11 global shopping festival for our merchants and partners. Continued investment in user engagement, especially through social commerce content, contributed to our strong gains in annual active consumers.”

Tmall’s online physical goods GMV increased 24 percent year over year in the quarter that ended Dec. 31, with the exclusion of unpaid orders, marking formidable growth in the consumer goods and electronics segments. The company said in its announcement, “Our consumer segmentation initiatives have been well-received by users, as we continued to see strong order growth and higher purchase frequency.”

The company’s annual 11.11 global shopping festival brought in $38.4 billion in GMV via Alipay’s consumer services platforms and retail marketplaces, a 26 percent increase over last year. The firm noted in the announcement that “during this year’s festival, we continued to drive consumer value by offering savings and [a] wider product assortment from high-quality merchants.”

In regard to the Coronavirus, the company said in the earnings announcement that it “mobilized [the] Alibaba ecosystem’s powerful forces of commerce and technology to fully support the fight against the outbreak, ensure supply of daily necessities for our communities and introduced practical relief measures for our merchants.” Earlier this month, news surfaced that Alibaba Group had set up a special platform to coordinate the delivery of global medical supplies to help fight the Coronavirus.