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Total sales transaction on e-commerce websites owned by Alibaba ( BABA ) have surpassed 3 trillion yuan ($463 billion), up from 1 trillion yuan in 2012, in what Executive Vice Chairman Joe Tsai referred to as a milestone that’s just a gas stop on the road ahead. The 3 trillion yuan milestone in gross merchandise volume was achieved with 10 days remaining in Alibaba’s fiscal year, which runs through to the end of March. That’s up 23% year over year in local currency, in line with Wall Street expectations though marking a slowdown from 46% growth in fiscal 2015. Alibaba stock was up more than 2%, near 78, in early afternoon trading in the stock market today . The stock has risen than 30% since falling to 59.25, near an all-time low, on Feb. 9. Alibaba has an IBD Composite Rating of 82. The milestone is one of several that Alibaba has set to spur revenue and profitability, Tsai wrote in his first blog post , published Monday. “We are proud of what this achievement means for China,” he wrote. “It reflects economic growth propelled by consumption and job creation in the service sector.” The shift toward consumption and services is a massive transformation that will drive a new Chinese economy for years to come, he wrote. The gross merchandise volume represents the total value of goods sold on Alibaba websites. Alibaba gets a cut from the sale of goods. In the e-commerce arena, Alibaba competes primarily with JD.com ( JD ), which is the largest online direct-sales company in China. JD — which offers a wide range of electronics, apparel, home appliances, food and beverages and other general merchandise — reported Q4 earnings on March 1. Revenue rose 57% in local currency to $8.35 billion, year over year. Gross merchandise volume rose 69% to $22.2 billion In his blog post, Tsai acknowledged challenges ahead. “Growth is meaningless unless it is sustainable. Thus, we have turned our focus to quality growth and broadening domestic consumption,” he wrote. Alibaba’s challenges also include removing counterfeit goods and fake product sales that have plagued its reputation. In the past year, Alibaba has stepped up efforts to bring “quality producers and brands” onto its platform, especially from overseas, Tsai wrote. It also has a program to penetrate 600,000 villages across China. “We still have a lot of work ahead of us,” he wrote. Image provided by Shutterstock . Scalper1 News
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