Alibaba shares fell Thursday as revenue growth failed to meet market expectations.
In the three months ended March, revenue rose 7 percent to 236.5 million renminbi, or $32.5 billion, for the Chinese technology company, which fell slightly short of the 237.24 billion renminbi, or $32.9 billion, forecast by analysts surveyed by market data firm LSEG.
Shares fell around 7 percent in early trading. However, the group’s stock has risen roughly 58 percent year-to-date as it pivoted toward AI and cloud computing.
For the fiscal year ended March 31, revenue rose 6 percent to 996.3 billion renminbi, or $137.3 billion; annual net income attributable to ordinary shareholders surged 62 percent to 129.4 billion renminbi, or $17.8 billion.
“Our results this quarter and for the full fiscal year demonstrate the ongoing effectiveness of our ‘user first, AI-driven’ strategy, with core business growth continuing to accelerate,” said Eddie Wu, chief executive officer of Alibaba Group.
Alibaba’s core Taobao and Tmall group division saw its revenue grow 9 percent to 101.3 billion renminbi, or $13.9 billion, in the latest March quarter.
The company highlighted that customer management growth, which includes marketing and related services that Alibaba sells to its merchants, jumped 12 percent year-over-year. Annual revenue for the Taobao and Tmall business segment grew 3 percent year-over-year from 449.8 billion renminbi, or $61.9 billion.
With an ongoing mission to boost local consumption and gain an advantage over its rivals — such as JD.com, Douyin and Pinduoduo — during this year’s 618 online shopping festival, Alibaba struck up a strategic partnership with Xiaohongshu, China‘s popular social commerce platform, which will help the platform gain insight into the consumer journey.
Alibaba is also expanding its fast delivery service called “instant commerce,” which offers one-hour delivery via a network of brick-and-mortar retail partners and company-owned local warehouses.
Meanwhile, revenue at Alibaba’s International Digital Commerce Group, which focuses on businesses in the European market and the Gulf Region, jumped 22 percent to 33.5 billion renminbi, or $4.6 billion. Annual growth logged 29 percent jump to reach 132.3 billion renminbi, or $18.2 billion.
Revenue at the company’s Cloud Intelligence Group hiked 18 percent in the March quarter, with AI-related revenue posting triple-digit growth for the seventh consecutive quarter. Annual growth logged 11 percent to reach 118 billion renminbi, or $16.2 billion.
During the earnings call, Wu also detailed AI’s potential in legacy industries such as livestock farming and traditional manufacturing. “This is a historical moment, the window of opportunity will have a lasting impact for the next ten to 20 years,” said Wu during the call.
During the call, Jiang Fan, Alibaba’s retail head, added that AI could also alter traditional e-commerce’s algorithmic search and recommendation system.
