http://www.barrons.com/articles/alibaba-why-it-could-fall-50-further-1442036618
Consider this: Alibaba claims to have 367 million users—about the same as one government agency’s estimate of China’s entire online-shopping population. Or this: Alibaba’s data suggest that its average customer’s annual spending on its sites amounts to nearly 75% of what the average U.S. online shopper spends on all sites. That’s hard to square with American consumers’ far greater affluence and ability to avail themselves of a vastly more developed e-commerce ecosystem.
Alibaba Vice President of International Media Robert Christie denies that the company’s figures are inflated in any fashion. He attributes the gaudy growth numbers to such factors as the rapid adoption of smartphones for online buying and the company’s fast user expansion into second- and third-tier cities and into China’s hinterlands. Maybe so, but those growth numbers are still awfully large.
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