E-commerce versus retail commerce: the former wins hands down. The Chinese giant of online sales, Alibaba, in fact recorded record accounts in the second quarter, while the US Wal-Mart, the world's first chain of stores by turnover, struggles.
Alibaba saw Q2017 XNUMX revenue grow 56% to 50,2 billion yuan ($7,4 billion), exceeding analysts' estimates. Bloomberg's average estimate was 47,9 billion yuan. Annual active consumers in Chinese retail markets reached 466 million, up from 434 as of June 30 a year earlier. Net income was 14,031 billion yuan, up 7,142% from 2016 billion yuan in the second quarter of 96.
“Our technology is driving significant growth in our business and strengthening our position beyond our core commerce,” he said. Daniel Zhang, CEO of the Alibaba Group. "We plan to continue investing in long-term growth opportunities," added Maggie Wu, chief financial officer.
The same thing cannot be said of Wal-Mart, which indeed sees revenues growing in the second quarter, but also a profit decreasing by 23,2% to 2,899 billion dollars, among other things precisely because of the continuous investments made to compete with online retailers and with discounters, and a 2,1% increase in revenues to $123,355 billion due to increased customers both in-store and online.
In detail, sales in US stores open for at least a year increased by 1,8% compared to consensus forecasts of a 1,7% increase against traffic at the group's stores increased by 1,3. XNUMX% thanks to the lowering of the price of some products and the improvement of the stores. In the period, earnings per share were $0,96 per share and adjusted earnings per share were $1,08. Forecasts compiled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S estimated second quarter earnings per share at $1,07 per share.
In addition, Asda, Wal-Mart's British business, reported positive data after three years. In the second quarter, same-store sales grew by 1,8% thanks to the 16% growth in the Easter period. Excluding Easter, sales increased by 0,7%. Wal-Mart explained that the improvements are due to the increase in the purchasing power of consumers and their number. In April, Asda launched a new affordable meat brand called 'Farm Stores', following Tesco's strategy.
