Alibaba Group Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE:BABA) is leveraging artificial intelligence to gain a competitive edge in the face of China's competitive e-commerce market.
According to a report in Nikkei Asia, on Alibaba's Taobao platform, shoppers can use the AI chatbot Wenwen to purchase items such as a Sony Group (NYSE:SONY) camera priced at about $650, according to the user's specifications. It is said to be able to recommend personalized products.
Introduced in 2023, Wenwen leverages Tongyi Qianwen (Qwen), a large-scale language model developed by Alibaba's cloud division.
Also read: Alibaba stock falls as huge investment losses in the fourth quarter cloud earnings growth and dividends
In addition to helping shoppers, Alibaba employs generative AI to streamline merchant operations, simplifying tasks like editing photos and creating virtual models.
Despite these innovations, Alibaba reported a 10% increase in net profit to 79.7 billion yuan ($11 billion) and an 8% increase in revenue to 941.1 billion yuan for the fiscal year ended March.
Although the market share of Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall platforms fell from 80% in 2017 to 37% in 2023, CEO Eddie Wu said that in the first quarter of this year, the market share of these segments reported double-digit growth in gross merchandise value.
Analysts noted that Alibaba's GMV grew by double digits year over year thanks to discounts. The cloud business is expected to register double-digit growth in the second half of 2025.
BABA stock has fallen more than 4% in the past 12 months. Investors can gain exposure to stocks through: Invesco Golden Dragon China ETF (NASDAQ:PGJ) and ProShares Online Retail ETF (NYSE:ONLN).
Price action: At last check on Friday, BABA stock was trading 1.18% higher at $87.72 pre-market.
Disclaimer: This content is created in part using AI tools, and reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Alibaba Photo via Shutterstock
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This article shows how Alibaba strengthens its e-commerce edge with AI despite shrinking market share
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