Alibaba Group has announced it is now the “largest retail economy in world”, measured by annual gross merchandise volume (GMV).
The Chinese e-tailer made the announcement on the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)on 5 April 2016, and has been confirmed by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
While Alibaba has yet to release its financial results for its year ending 13 March, as the leading retail economy, the SEC filing suggest that it would have surpassed Walmart’s US$482.1bn revenue in US retailer's fiscal year ending 31 January.
In a post on Alibaba’s corporate communications blog Alizila, Alibaba Group executive vice chairman Joe Tsai said that if its platforms were a province, Alibaba would rank as the 6th largest province in China.
“Today [21 March], with ten days remaining in our fiscal year ending March 2016, Alibaba’s China retail marketplace platforms surpassed RMB 3 trillion in GMV,” Tsai said.
“The shift toward consumption and services is a massive transformation that will drive a new Chinese economy for years to come. At the heart of this new economy is Alibaba.”
Tsai said Alibaba was focused on quality and sustainable growth, making Alibaba more than a sales and distribution challenge, but also a marketer, brand engager and service provider.
Alibaba is now targeting RMB 6 trillion GMV by 2020, and more recently has completed its takeover of Hong Kong-based SMCP Group, and has removed the paywall for the online and mobile editions of its English paper the South China Morning Post.
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