China’s “new economic reality” of slower growth has not stopped Chinese e-commerce Alibaba from posting a better-than-expected 59 percent increase in first-quarter revenue to US$4.8 billion, its biggest gain since the company went public two years ago with a $25 billion IPO.
Annual active buyers increased to 434 million, representing an 18 percent year-over-year increase. Revenue per annual active buyer was $30, while mobile revenue per mobile MAU (mobile apps unlocked) was $21. For reference, in early 2015, Amazon Prime members spent $1,500 per year, on average, while non-members spent about $625 a year, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.
While the company’s general numbers were up, it pointed to rapid growth in its cloud-computing business as the important takeaway during Q2. Cloud computing revenue grew 156 percent, y-o-y, with the number of customers more than doubling to 577,000, compared to a year earlier.
During a conference call following the earnings release, Alibaba Executive Vice Chairman Joe Tsai acknowledged that his company’s results were surprising to some, “given the economic headwinds” China has experienced in recent months.
Despite the overall bright picture, Alibaba said it faces an uphill battle to make some of its newer investments profitable. An investment in food-delivery service Koubei generated a $37 million loss in the first quarter. Another investment in logistics network Cainiao saw losses rise to $34 million in the second quarter, up sharply from $8.9 million a year earlier.
For more information on the effects of e-commerce on the logistics industry, see our upcoming panel discussion, “Shipping and the Digital Economy: Aligning Airfreight to E-commerce,” at Air Cargo World’s new ELEVATE 2016 Conference, Oct. 10, in Miami.