Alibaba recently released its 2018 annual report, proving that it is dominating China's retail realm largely due to the increasing number of active consumers on the platform and a solid 1 billion user-base on AliPay.
In its report, the Hangzhou-based retail giant recorded 636 million active consumers who use the platform. The figures are up by 23 percent compared to 2017, indicating that the company added around 35 million users in the third quarter of 2018.
Motley Fool pointed out that Alibaba's growth allows for analysts to compare the tech mammoth to other similar retailers on the international level. The list includes Amazon, Netflix, and Facebook.
For one, the Chinese retail corporation's main business is its online platform that competes with Seattle-based Amazon. The company also has its own streaming platform similar to Netflix and it acts as a social network where Chinese users can interact with other consumers - much like Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook.
To further boost its user-base, Alibaba is working on a new feature that will help less frequent or first-time users to access the platform with ease. Experts believe this strategy will further encourage new users to explore what the retail store has to offer aside from products.
AliPay is another arm that has put Alibaba on top of the game. The company's digital wallet now boasts of 1 billion users. Aside from China, the e-wallet has also started spreading across over 110 countries around the world.
Consultancy firm Analysys said AliPay and Tencent's WeChat Pay account for over 90 percent of the Chinese mobile market.
Analysts suggested that Alibaba's ability to welcome change and adapt to new trends in the Chinese market helped in its operations. The company's decision to come up with different versions of its retail platform is said to be one of the key drivers in its bid to add new users.
Alibaba continues to invest in various projects that will boost its revenue in the coming years as it was confirmed that the company purchased millions of shares on Bilibili, one of China's top online video platforms.
According to Xinhua News, the retail provider announced last week that its e-commerce arm, Taobao, bought 24 million shares from Bilibili. The figures account for 8 percent in stakes in the video sharing platform.
Late last year, the two tech companies declared a partnership that would focus on building a dynamic environment for content creators and users. President of Taobao and VP of Alibaba Group, Jiang Fan, said of the partnership, "I believe our cooperation can further unleash Bilibili's commercial potential."
