Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba reported a sharp increase in both profit and revenue in Q4, with mobile now generating 80 per cent of its retail turnover in China.

Mobile revenue from its China commerce retail business increased 73 per cent year-on-year in Q4 to CNY32.5 billion ($4.7 billion), accounting for 80 per cent of its domestic retail revenue, compared with 65 per cent in the same quarter of 2015.

Annual mobile revenue per mobile monthly active user (MAU) increased to $24, from $23 in the prior quarter.

Mobile MAUs on China retail marketplaces during Q4 reached CNY493 million, a 25 per cent year-on-year increase, which the company said was driven by efforts to provide more relevant and engaging content.

The 11.11 shopping festival generated CNY120.7 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) settled through Alipay on its marketplaces, 82 per cent of which came from mobile. 
Alipay faces uncertainty in 2017 as a result of forthcoming new banking regulations in China.

Alibaba’s net profit for the quarter increased 38 per cent year-on-year to CNY17.2 billion on total revenue of CNY53.2 billion, which grew 54 per cent.

The company raised its revenue growth target for 2017 to 53 per cent from 48 per cent – revenue for 2016 rose 33 per cent.

Revenue from its core commerce platforms increased 45 per cent year-on-year to CNY46.6 billion, while revenue from cloud computing expanded 115 per cent to CNY1.76 billion. Turnover from digital media and entertainment jumped 273 per cent year-over-year to CNY4.06 billion.

Annual active buyers on China retail marketplaces rose 9 per cent year-on-year to reach 443 million.

Alibaba CFO Maggie Wu said the company generated $4.9 billion in free cash flow on a non-GAAP basis, “enabling us to continue investing in growth areas globally, including cloud computing, digital media and entertainment and innovation initiatives, as well as core commerce”.