Source: Wall Street News
Author: Cao Anxun

The restructuring and reform took more than a year,$Alibaba (BABA.US)$/$BABA-SW (09988.HK)$There have been some milestones in several core business segments.

On May 14, Alibaba Group announced Q4 and full year results for the 2024 fiscal year. In the 2024 fiscal year, Ali achieved revenue of 941,168 billion yuan, an increase of 8% year on year; in the 2024 Q4 fiscal quarter, Ali achieved revenue of 221,874 billion yuan, an increase of 7% year on year, exceeding previous market expectations.

Among these, in addition to benefiting from the growth of Taotian and Alibaba Cloud, Alibaba International Digital Business Group (hereinafter referred to as Alibaba International), which has risen to become the second-largest revenue pillar of Ali, also contributed greatly.

Financial reports show that in the 2024 Q4 fiscal quarter, Ali International achieved revenue of 27.448 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 45%. It has exceeded expectations for seven consecutive quarters, and overall orders on its retail platforms have increased 20% year over year.

Alibaba Group CEO Wu Yongming also confirmed Alibaba International's contribution during the earnings conference, saying that the 2024 Q4 fiscal quarter results showed that Ali's strategy was effective, and that Ali is returning to a growth path. Both Taotian and GMV of the international e-commerce business achieved double-digit year-on-year growth.

In the Alibaba international sector, the AliExpress Choice business in particular has grown quite significantly.

Since its launch in March 2023, combined with Cainiao's logistics capabilities, Choice Channel has driven orders on the AliExpress platform to increase by 50%. As of April of this year, Choice orders accounted for about 70% of AliExpress's overall orders.

In fact, over the past year, China's major cross-border e-commerce platforms have made great strides overseas, and AliExpress is no exception. Launching semi-hosting, cooperating with Cainiao on the “Global Five-Day Delivery” service, and launching a “10 billion subsidized brand overseas” program, etc., to stimulate buyers' desire to buy and meet the diverse cross-border logistics needs of sellers, in an attempt to replicate Taobao's record overseas.

Other platforms have also performed admirably.

Known as the “eldest son of Ali,” Ali International has continuously launched AI foreign trade products and semi-hosting services over the past year. Through intelligent driving and deep supply chain integration, the annual online turnover of Ali International Station is close to 50 billion US dollars.

Furthermore, in the 2024 Q4 fiscal quarter, its Turkish e-commerce platform Trendyol continued to maintain double-digit order growth; as the monetization rate further increased and operations optimized, Lazada, the flagship e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia, saw a significant year-on-year decline in losses per order.

All of this has laid the foundation for Ali International to maintain a “fast running” state.

Of course, as the vanguard with the highest revenue and growth rate, when will Ali International achieve profits has always been one of the biggest concerns of investors.

Jiang Fan, CEO of Ali International Digital Business Group, confessed at the earnings conference that losses widened last quarter due to aggressive investments in some emerging markets and the rising share of the Choice business model.

But he is also working hard to improve. “In the process of switching this business model, our own profitability will take time, and now we are also rapidly optimizing efficiency.”

China Merchants Securities said that by continuously optimizing the efficiency of international business operations, it is expected that losses brought about by the Choice business model will be gradually optimized in the next few quarters, and it is optimistic about the long-term growth potential of international business.

In the future, as China's cross-border e-commerce continues to increase capital and technology investment and expand overseas, localized operations will be the key to whether Ali International can gain a foothold. As a business that is currently still vigorously developing and has the benefits of going overseas, Ali International's next performance will also affect the investors' and market's value judgments about Ali to a certain extent.

Ali International will also continue to work hard to help Ali fight the current defensive battle.

Editor/jayden