Alibaba Revenues Soar 61% with Booming E-Commerce on Taobao

Alibaba Group, the Chinese multinational and multi-business conglomerate, announced on Thursday its Q2 earnings report of the quarter ending on June 30, 2018 with a revenue standing at $12,229 million, a whopping 61 percent year-over-year increase.

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Alibaba has seen robust and rapid growth on a significant scale across major business areas including e-commerce, cloud computing, digital media and entertainment. According to the report, the net annual active retail consumers across China reached 576 million, an increase of 24 million from the 12-month period ending March 31, 2018. Meanwhile, the monthly active users on Taobao’s mobile app hit 634 million, a quarterly rise of 17 million. According to the report, around 80% of the increase was a collective contribution amassed by lower tier cities seeing as the e-commerce giant broadened its goods varieties and services into those regions.

What is worth noting here, is the powerful feature of live broadcast available within Taobao. The live stream option allows online shop owners to engage customers, allowing them to participate in live auctions or demonstrations of various products being sold. Users are free to interact with store owners by typing through the chat displayed on the bottom of the livestream. Thanks to these live commercials, the MAU skyrocketed, bringing about a 100 percent increase over the year. The virtuous cycle brought about by live broadcasts and short clips further drove purchases and increase annual active consumers.

Furthermore, cross-border and international retail continued to show promising growth as well. Net revenue gained from international e-commerce retail amounted to 4,316 million yuan in the quarter ending on June 30, 2018. This was yet another incredible 64 percent year-on-year growth.

Daniel Zhang, CEO of the Alibaba Group says that, “Alibaba had another excellent quarter, with significant user growth and even more robust engagement across our growing ecosystem.”

Zhang also indicates that Alibaba will continue to tap into big markets beyond e-commerce with digital entertainment and local services that will provide more value and additional choices to consumers along the consumption continuum.