Alibaba Claims Retail Market Crown For Itself; Analysts Disagree

Alibaba Group declared itself the world’s largest retailer as of March 31, 2016, the end of its fiscal year, according to its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In March 2015, Alibaba group executive vice chairman Joe Tsai said the company has recorded 3 trillion yuan, or about $476 billion, in gross merchandise volume. Some retail market analysts, however, disagreed with Alibaba’s pronouncement, saying the company’s business was too different from that of Walmart and hence there cannot be a meaningful comparison. Moody’s Investors Service debt and retail analyst Charles O’Shea said Walmart’s status as a physical retailer is a different business model than that of Alibaba.