Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) announced on Monday that it hit the 3 trillion yuan mark in volume ($463 billion) in its fiscal year ending in March.
The massive transaction volume marks a new milestone for the eCommerce giant. The volume is a 23% rise in the company’s gross merchandise volume compared to the previous fiscal year with a few days to go before the end of the month. The company recorded 46% growth in the fiscal year 2015 in comparison with the previous year. The new figures also highlight tripling GMV since 2012 when the company reached the 1 trillion yuan GMV mark. The company has managed to triple volume in three years.
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Alibaba has a few eCommerce channels that it owns in its home market that have played a vital role in the company’s expansion in China. Alibaba has also been expanding its platform to the rural parts of China as well as new markets outside its home country. Some of the firm’s efforts include Italy and the UK where the firm has selected managers to run its divisions in the two countries.
The company’s vice president Joseph Tsai stated that Alibaba would be ranked as the sixth largest provincial economy if its operational platforms were a province. The rise in the GMV might be good news for the company, but Alibaba also revealed that the third quarter of FY15 recorded the lowest growth rate for the firm over the past three years.
Alibaba has set a new target where it plans to double the 3 trillion yuan trading volume over the next five years. Tsai stated that the company’s rural Taobao initiative has already presented a positive outlook. The company’s coverage has already reached more than 12,000 of the 600,000 villages in China. Alibaba’s online platforms have contributed to more than 10% of the total transaction volume in the country.