Dive Brief:
- China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd reported higher-than-expected revenue growth of 32% year-on-year, Reuters reports.
- The earnings were bolstered primarily by online shopping, specifically Tmall, an Amazon-like website that allows businesses to sell to customers.
- GMV for Tmall rose 56%.
Dive Insight:
The company said overall growth also partly reflected healthy growth in shopping on mobile phones.
“Mobile is the trend and Alibaba is capturing that trend," said T.H. Capital Research analyst Tian Hou.
Despite the growth, there is evidence consumption in China may soon be affected by a slowing economy. The country is expecting its slowest full-year growth in a quarter of a century this year. For the latest quarter, gains at Taobao, similar to eBay and by far the company's biggest contributor to GMV, showed signs of slowing at just 15 percent.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is also the current e-commerce leader in China.
