Downtown Beijing on May 2, 2025. Greg Baker | Afp | Getty Images
Alibaba, Tencent, and JD.com had some pretty good news to share this week about their earnings. Like, they were totally reflecting how Chinese people are spending more money and how artificial intelligence is like, totally helping out with advertising.
Alibaba was all like, “Hey, check out our Taobao and Tmall sales! They went up by 9% to a whopping 101.37 billion yuan ($13.97 billion) in just three months.” That’s way more than what those FactSet folks predicted. And get this, their growth was like, way better than the measly 3% increase they had over the whole year before.
The trade tensions between the U.S. and China have been a bit of a bummer for everyone, but it looks like things might be getting better. Charlie Chen from China Renaissance Securities thinks that once the trade issues calm down, people will start spending more money again.
In the meantime, though, it seems like people are still buying stuff like crazy. JD.com saw a 17% jump in sales of electronics and home appliances from last year. And Tencent is killing it with their ads, making a 20% increase in revenue from marketing services. Their secret? AI, baby.
AI is like, totally changing the game when it comes to ads. Tencent’s click-through rates are through the roof, thanks to their AI upgrades. Like, they went from 0.1% to almost 3% in no time. And with over 1.4 billion users on WeChat, they’re reaching more people than ever.
It’s not just Tencent, though. JD.com is also using AI to boost their marketing revenues. And YouTube just announced they’re using Google’s Gemini AI model to target ads better. It’s like everyone’s jumping on the AI bandwagon, and honestly, I’m here for it.
But, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Alibaba didn’t quite meet analysts’ expectations, so their shares took a little tumble. And consumer confidence in China is at a low, with many worried about job losses. It’s a tough time for a lot of people, but hopefully, things will start looking up soon.
As for the future, experts are predicting a modest growth in sales for the upcoming shopping season. Jacob Cooke from WPIC Marketing + Technologies thinks we’ll see a “very low double-digit” increase in sales. Not too shabby, right? So, let’s keep our fingers crossed for a successful 618!
Alright, that’s a wrap for now. Keep an eye out for more updates on how these companies are navigating the ever-changing world of business. And hey, maybe we’ll even see more AI magic in the future. Who knows, right?
