Theresa May recently visited China in a bid to present Britain as a stable European trade partner. In light of Brexit and the EU’s economic growth in 2017, many see the 'Made in Britain' brand as one that is losing it’s shine. Whatever the reason for the drop in China’s import of British goods, it is not due to a decrease in retail Chinese spending. To the contrary, the country is seeing explosive growth in the retail market.
Alibaba, China's leading online retailer, has once again raised its annual revenue forecast, after a 35 percent jump in net profit in the third quarter of 2017 to $US 3.7 billion.
The third quarter bottom line was boosted by sales figures from 'singles day', an unofficial holiday on November 11, which has become a national shopping day for China’s growing middle class. 'Singles day” in 2017 saw $US 25.9 billion in sales, an increase of 39 percent compared to 2016.
Alibaba has regularly beaten quarterly estimates and made the founder, Jack Ma, one of the wealthiest men in the country. On the strength of the third quarter results, Alibaba has raised it’s financial forecast for the period 2017/18 - which ends in March 2018 - by three percent.
Alibaba claims that at the end of December 2017, it had some 580 million active monthly users connecting to the platform. Alipay, the payment of choice for Alibaba, is a seperate corporation but also part-owned by Jack Ma. Alibaba recently announced it’s intention to acquire 33 percent of the company, thereby increasing it's revenue from transaction fees generated by Alibaba sales.
Alibaba's platform invests heavily in artificial intelligence to increase sales through product proposals, as well as making connections with non-virtual shops, and intends to increase this investment in the near future.
Sources: Bilan.ch; france24.com; gqmagazine
Photo : www.alibabagroup.com
