Alibaba surpasses three trillion yuan GMV mark

With just a few days left to its fiscal year end in March 2016, Alibaba's China retail marketplace platforms have surpassed three trillion yuan mark in gross merchandise value (GMV) (around 476 billion dollars). The number indicates 23 percent rise in GMV year-on-year against 46 percent growth recorded in fiscal 2015. However, it's a tripling of the one trillion yuan reported in 2012.

“This is one of the several milestones we set for ourselves to remind us that there's a lot of work ahead of us. Back in 2012, we achieved one trillion yuan in GMV. Then, it seemed tripling our GMV would be a tall order and, a bit more than three years later, here we are. It reflects economic growth propelled by consumption and job creation in the service sector. At the heart of this new economy is Alibaba. So we celebrate today's milestone for what it says about the potential of this new economy, and the achievements that lie ahead,” said Joe Tsai, Executive Vice Chairman, Alibaba Group.

“Today's milestone is just a gas stop, as we pause briefly to recognize the achievement, and look forward to the future,” said Tsai in a post on its web platform, adding, “The three trillion milestone also means that as Alibaba achieves unprecedented scale, we have a responsibility for how economic growth is achieved. Growth is meaningless unless it is sustainable. Thus, we have turned our focus to quality growth and broadening domestic consumption.”

According to him, Alibaba is more than a marketplace of virtual shops. “With our data insights, we enable millions of merchants and third-party service providers to engage and interact with their customers – the consumer. As the network effects underlying this ecosystem continue to get stronger, Alibaba's value will continue to grow. We have transformed how commerce is conducted in China, and we are well on track to achieve our mission "to make it easy to do business anywhere," Tsai concluded.