I've seen a lot of articles talking about how huge Alibaba is, but they all seem to focus only on transaction volume, e.g 'Alibaba has more sales than Amazon and eBay combined!'. I was really surprised when I read their filing, $4.7B in total revenue last financial year, $5.7B in the first 9 months of this financial year. Amazon + eBay in 2013 pulled in $33B in revenue. They seem to be processing a lot of transactions, but charging very little for it.
I agree. Every article I've come across goes out of the way to avoid ever talking about Alibaba's actual revenue. It's clear there's an immense amount of pumping going on leading up to the IPO.
Fact is, Alibaba isn't all that large at all. And 57% revenue growth on ~$8 billion in annual sales, while excellent, is not earth shattering. A lot of US tech companies have pulled off that kind of growth, Amazon included.
A lot? Care to cite? You may be correct but my gut says a few have done it. A "lot" seems like overstatement.
And you say "Amazon included." Have you ever seen Amazon's sales growth charted? It's the definition of hockey stick growth. Of course they're included, but who else is?
Yes, low transaction fee is part of Alibaba's strategy to grow the eCommerce market in China (and also a major reason why eBay failed their China venture to Taobao in early years).
Amazon/eBay transaction fees (~10%) seem ridiculously high. They almost eat up all margins of many industries. Many small business sellers are complaining about it.
