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Alibaba Announces Transaction-Volume Milestone: 3 Trillion Yuan
Total represents a tripling since 2012 for the Chinese e-commerce giant
By KATHY CHU in Hong Kong and SARAH NASSAUER in New York
Updated March 21, 2016 4:10 a.m. ET
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Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. said transaction volume on its sites hit 3 trillion yuan ($464 billion) with more than a week left in its fiscal year, a development that Executive Vice Chairman Joe Tsai called a “gas stop” in the company’s rapid growth.
That sum represents a tripling of the Chinese e-commerce giant’s gross merchandise volume, or GMV, since 2012 and a doubling since 2013. A measure of the total value of third-party sellers’ transactions on the company’s platforms—and so distinct from Alibaba’s revenue—GMV is tracked closely by investors and analysts because it shows how fast an e-commerce company is growing relative to competitors.
Mr. Tsai, in a blog post on Alibaba’s news site, said that if its platforms were a Chinese province, the company would rank as the sixth largest provincial economy.
The milestone is bittersweet for Alibaba, whose co-founder Jack Ma and other executives pointed in 2013 and 2014 to a different mark: overtaking Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to become the world’s biggest retail network. Alibaba has made the comparison though its business model—running marketplaces hosting third-party sellers, rather than operating brick-and-mortar stores like Wal-Mart—makes it more similar to companies like online sales platform eBay Inc.
The depreciating value of the Chinese yuan has made catching Wal-Mart more difficult. For its fiscal year ended Jan. 31, the U.S. retailer posted revenue of $482.1 billion and net sales—excluding membership fees and other income—of $478.6 billion. Both figures exceed Alibaba’s GMV and are many times its 2015 revenue of $14.69 billion.
Wal-Mart declined to comment.
Alibaba’s growth figures come with some controversy. A powerful state broadcaster this month alleged fake sales remain widespread on Alibaba’s platforms, which industry watchers say raise questions about its GMV. Alibaba counters that it uses sophisticated tools to identify and exclude fake transactions, which involve sellers paying people to place fictitious orders, from its financial results.
Mr. Tsai, in announcing that GMV had hit 3 trillion yuan, added that the company no longer measures success by a “simplistic view of GMV growth,” but instead focuses on “quality and sustainable growth.”
Alibaba, like its rivals, also tallies transactions regardless of whether they have been paid for. That means they could include the value of goods later canceled or returned.
In its prospectus, Alibaba said its ceiling for including the value of certain sales is 100,000 yuan (about $16,000). The company has said it set this ceiling because its marketplaces sell a wide range of products and services that have a high value, unlike most of its competitors.
—Yang Jie in Beijing contributed to this article.
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