Monday, September 22, 2014

Watch Out Walmart: Alibaba to Become World's Largest Retailer By 2016



 
Not only is Google, Amazon, and Yahoo watching, not it seems like Walmart is becoming nervous about the new giant that just debuted in the public market on 9/18/14. Alibaba, under the ticker name ‘BABA’ is now ranked as the world’s largest IPO.

““We want to be bigger than Walmart,” said Jack Ma, the founder and driving force of Alibaba Group.” With such ambition and a strong track record (Alibaba’s online shopping site has already blown past Ebay and Amazon) of strong gross merchandize volume, this bold statement may not be too far from being realized.

The only caution for this statement is that Alibaba is still rather tied to the Chinese economy. Consumption growth is rather flat and downturn in housing is sweeping across the country. Nevertheless, online retailing is growing at an incredible pace and will bode will for this retailing ecommerce giant, which is nicely supported by an upward trending online market in China.

It’s not surprising though, that Alibaba is looking at US and Europe for growth opportunities, and therefore listing on the NYSE. One thing’s for sure, the world is waiting with breath abated at what will be the future of this significant market player.



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