Alibaba Group Holding Limited reported the group’s revenue growth rose 29 percent to RMB 200.69 billion (US$31.44 billion), its slowest rate of growth in six quarters for the quarter ended 30th September.
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Second-quarter results missed expectations due to slowing consumption, increasing competition and regulatory headwinds.
“We recorded revenue growth of 29 percent year-over-year, driven by performance of our diversified businesses,” said Maggie Wu, Chief Financial Officer of Alibaba Group.
“During this quarter, our continued investments in key strategic areas have resulted in robust growth for these young businesses,” continued Maggie Wu.
Revenue from Alibaba’s China commerce retail business, its main e-commerce unit, was RMB 126,827 million (US$19,683 million), an increase of 33 percent compared to RMB 95,470 million in the same quarter of 2020.
Revenue from Alibaba’s international commerce retail business was RMB 10,375 million (US$1,610 million), an increase of 33 percent compared to RMB 7,789 million in the same quarter of 2020. The increase was primarily due to the growth in revenue generated by Lazada and AliExpress.
Cloud computing, another area closely watched by investors, grew 33 percent year-on-year to RMB 20,007 million (US$3,105 million).
“This quarter, Alibaba continued to firmly invest into our three strategic pillars of domestic consumption, globalisation, and cloud computing to establish solid foundations for our long-term goal of sustainable growth in the future,” said Daniel Zhang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group.
“Our global annual active consumers across the Alibaba Ecosystem reached approximately 1.24 billion, with a quarterly net increase of 62 million consumers, and we are on track to achieve our longer-term target of serving two billion consumers globally,” continued Daniel.
Alibaba said it will continue to invest heavily in areas such as Taobao Deals, an e-commerce service targeting lower-tier cities, and offline retail initiatives.
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Based on current view of macroeconomic conditions and the competitive landscape, the group is revising fiscal year 2022 revenue guidance. Alibaba Group Holding Limited expects fiscal year 2022 revenue to grow 20 percent to 23 percent year-over-year. It previously expected to grow 29.5 percent year-over-year.