Alibaba’s Tmall may have changed its name to Skycat (in Chinese) earlier this year, but it apparently hasn’t changed its habit of selling hundreds of billions of RMB worth of stuff. The company broke 100 billion RMB ($15 billion) in sales in 2011, but it continues to accelerate rapidly, estimating it will rack up more than 200 billion RMB ($31 billion) in sales by the end of this year.
The total sales figure is not new, and does fall in line with projections Tmall made at the beginning of the year. But the confirmation of this number at the halfway point in the year indicates that Tmall is likely well on its way to reaching that goal, and is probably already nearing or even beyond 100 billion RMB in sales. The company also announced some other details like these: this year, Tmall expects to sell 500 million RMB ($79 million) in 3C products and 600 million RMB ($95 million) in clothing. In total, Tmall is experiencing year-on-year growth of more than 100 percent, and an operating profit margin of more than 50 percent.
Tmall’s massive growth and success points to many things, but one interesting aspect of it is that because it sells branded items directly from the brands involved, its success may be seen as an indication that China’s middle class is increasingly unwilling to deal with knockoffs and unprofessional vendors on other e-commerce sites (including Alibaba’s own Taobao). That’s great news for brands looking to connect with China’s growing consumer base.
[via Sina Tech]
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