For the first time ever, Alibaba’s revenue is mostly mobile

Alibaba just announced its financial results for the quarter that ended in June. In the big picture, the company missed its revenue targets by posting a less-than-expected revenue increase of 28 percent. But the real story is Alibaba’s move towards mobile: for the first time ever, the company says its mobile revenues accounted for more than 50 percent of its total commerce revenues in China.

Ecommerce results

Specifically, at US$1.288 billion, Alibaba’s mobile revenue for the quarter accounted for 51 percent of the company’s total China commerce revenue. That’s a year-on-year increase of 225 percent. Alibaba says it has reached 307 million monthly active mobile users, and mobile spending (in terms of gross merchandise volume, or GMV) reached $60 billion. That’s a 125 percent year-on-year increase, and accounts for 55 percent of the total spending on Alibaba’s platforms in China. And it means that Alibaba’s mobile users are spending an average of US$195 per person per quarter, up from US$159 half a year ago.

In total, spending on Alibaba’s platforms (GMV) reached US$109 billion. The company says it now has 367 million active buyers, but those are annual active buyers – not all of them necessarily made a purchase this quarter.

Most probably did, though, because Alibaba says, on average, these active buyers place 58 orders a year across Alibaba’s platforms. That’s a rate of more than one order a week!

Other results

Even though its total revenue growth was lower than expected, Alibaba’s profits didn’t fail to disappoint this quarter, with the company posting a net profit of US$4.97 billion.

Alibaba’s non-ecommerce plays are also contributing to the company’s bottom line. Its cloud computing arm brought in US$78 million in revenue this quarter, an increase of 106 percent year-on-year. Its Cainiao logistics play is also doing well, with a pilot grocery delivery program in Beijing and Shanghai having increased sales 740 percent year-on-year. Alibaba didn’t share many details about its Koubei O2O play, but the company is optimistic about the future of that business.

Finally, Alibaba announced a share repurchase plan that will see the company repurchasing up to US$4 billion in its own shares over the next two years, “primarily to offset dilution.”

Alibaba’s shares dropped sharply after the quarterly report was released on Wednesday in response to the news that the company missed its expected revenue increase.