Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba reported its second-quarter earnings results on August 12, 2015. Its revenues and sales growth were weaker than expected. This is Alibaba slowest quarterly growth in over three years.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s Revenue for the three months through June was $3.2 billion, risen 28 percent compared with last financial year. But its sales were up 44% in the second quarter of 2014. In 2015, Alibaba’s second-quarter earnings results were well below analysts’ expectations of $3.39 billion.
Alibaba’s growth rate is slowing. In the past financial year, Alibaba’s revenue growth was 39%. And one year earlier, the growth reached 59%. Its second-quarter 2015 revenue growth was “only” 28%. This is not to infer the fall of Alibaba. In my opinion, the reduction of revenue growth rate demonstrated that Alibaba’s core Chinese business has now reached a level of maturity.
Indeed, the China’s biggest e-commerce company also reported a jump in revenue from people buying on mobile phone and tablet devices. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s mobile revenue surged 225% and now accounts for more than half of Alibaba’s total China commerce retail’s revenue for the first time. But Alibaba’s mobile business was still less lucrative than business via personal computers, and profitability of the latter has also decreased. Even though Alibaba’s investment in its mobile business is starting to make profit, the China’s biggest e-commerce company still reported disappointing second-quarter earnings results.
Can Alibaba’s revenue rebound in the future?
That remains to be seen. It depends on what happens in the Chinese economy. Owing to the devaluation of the Chinese yuan on August 11, 2015, Alibaba’s revenue of cross -border business next quarter may face an augmentation because consumers will likely have to pay more for imported goods.
Zeling ZHONG Étudiante en Master 2 Gestion et Droit de l’Économie Numérique parcours Commerce Electronique de l’Université de Strasbourg, curieuse de toutes les Nouvelles Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication, je suis passionnée par tout ce qui est relatif à l’E-commerce sur le marché chinois. J’éprouve un intérêt particulier pour le marketing en ligne avec les réseaux sociaux.
