Alibaba surges despite weak apparel sales for March quarter

Alibaba Group, the parent company behind Taobao and Tmall, announced its financial results on Friday (May 22) for the quarter and fiscal year ending on March 31. The company achieved $1 trillion in annual gross merchandising value for the first time, and it also reported that its overall revenue from the March quarter rose by 22% to 114.3 billion yuan ($16.1 billion). 

For Tmall, sales slumps in major categories like apparel and accessories were offset by a rise in sales of daily necessities, according to the financial report. The e-commerce giant’s 'Core Commerce' segment, which houses Taobao, Tmall, Tmall Global, and the high-end shopping mall brand Intime, constituted 82% of its quarterly revenue of 13.2 billion yuan ($1.85 billion), and it holds entry to over 726 million annual active consumers in China.

Despite having been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company is still on track for further growth, its executives said. The chief financial officer of Alibaba Group, Maggie Wu, said that it has seen “a steady recovery” since March, and the group expects to generate over 650 billion yuan ($91.1 billion) in revenue by the end of the 2021 fiscal year.