In the first half of 2015, e-commerce transactions amounted to 7.63 trillion yuan ($1.20 trillion). (Photo : Reuters)
Though the April-to-June revenue of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. rose by 28 percent, the e-commerce giant still has posted its slowest growth rate in over three years.
According to a Thomson Reuters SmartEstimate poll of 28 analysts, the leading e-commerce firm in China gathered a quarterly revenue of $3.27 billion, a few million short of the expected $3.39 billion.
For analysts, the slow pace comes after the gross merchandise volume (GMV) also started to increase at a slower rate. The amount of the total value of goods transacted across all Alibaba's platforms rose by 34 percent, the slowest growth in more than three years.
In a bid to address the slowdown, Alibaba has been expanding its businesses other than its core online-only shopping services. The firm is currently valued at $194 billion.
On Wednesday, Alibaba's chief finance officer Maggie Wu announced that they "made significant progress monetizing [their] mobile traffic, with [their] mobile revenue exceeding 50 percent of [their] total China commerce retail revenue for the first time."
Earlier on Monday, the e-commerce group revealed that it eyes to invest $4.6 billion in bricks-and-mortar retailer Suning Commerce Group Co. Ltd. The partnership is expected to give Alibaba a foot in the field of logistics and electronics.
Furthermore, Chief Executive Daniel Zhang said that Alibaba will be focusing on its strategic priorities, including internationalization, cloud computing investments, expansion in rural China, and stepping up its mobile initiatives.
The company also announced a two-year share repurchase program worth $4 billion.
Alibaba posted a $1.5-billion non-GAAP income for the first quarter of the financial year ended March 2015. The figure was a 30-percent year-on-year increase.
However, its shares have seen a decline of 26 percent since the beginning of the year.
