Lex專欄 阿里巴巴尚未大到不能管

If being big was enough, Alibaba would already have it nailed. In its December quarter, reported yesterday, the value of goods transacted on its platform rose by one half from a year ago, to an incomprehensible $126bn. Revenues, alas, rose only 40 per cent. More sales are closing on mobile devices, and Alibaba’s profitability on these deals is below that of desktops. What’s more investment in “user experience” (oh, that) crimped the company’s margins. The shares fell 10 per cent.
Margins are not the biggest Alibaba story this week. On Tuesday, China’s State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) released findings of an investigation into ecommerce sites, performed last autumn. SAIC says less than two-fifths of the products it bought on Alibaba’s Taobao site arrived as advertised. Alibaba filed a complaint against the head of the SAIC’s online commerce department, saying he lacks objectivity. The SAIC then revealed that it had been investigating Alibaba during its listing process, but had not released the report at the time.
Alibaba controls an estimated 80 per cent of the Chinese eretail market. It cannot avoid dodgy goods altogether. It has taken high-profile steps to combat counterfeits, spending $160m since the beginning of 2013 and employing a team of 2,000 people to police its sites. The issue could be political — with the authorities sending a gentle reminder about who is boss.
Alibaba employs over 34,000 people directly. It has 70,000 “Taobao Village” merchants, which bring ecommerce and jobs to the countryside. Last year, the company announced it would invest $1.6bn over the next three to five years to boost online shopping in rural areas. The potentially damaging investigation indicates that the company’s size, success and central position in the consumer economy — which China is trying to promote — do not give immunity from regulatory oversight. Alibaba is big and important but it is not inviolable. Investors should keep this firmly in mind.

如果只要規模大就足夠了，那麼阿里巴巴(Alibaba)就什麼都不用擔心了。按照該公司昨日發佈的業績報告，在截至去年12月的這個季度裏，其平臺上交易的商品價值同比上升一半，達到不可思議的1260億美元。可惜營收僅同比增長40%。更多的銷售在移動設備上完成，阿里巴巴在這些交易上的盈利水平低於在桌面電腦上完成的交易。這還不算，對“用戶體驗”的投資壓低了該公司的利潤率。昨日阿里巴巴股價下跌10%。
利潤率不是本週有關阿里巴巴的最大新聞。週二，中國國家工商行政管理總局發佈了去年秋天調查電商網站的結果。國家工商總局表示，其從阿里巴巴旗下的淘寶網(Taobao)購買的商品中，只有不到五分之二是正品。阿里巴巴提交了針對國家工商總局在線商務主管部門負責人的投訴，稱他缺乏客觀性。國家工商總局隨即透露，它曾在阿里巴巴上市過程中調查該公司，只是當時沒有發佈報告。
阿里巴巴控制着中國電子零售市場的大約80%。它不可能完全避免有問題的商品。該公司已採取高調措施打擊假冒商品，自2013年初以來爲此投入1.6億美元，並僱用了一支2000人的團隊來監督旗下網站。這個問題可能是政治性質的——當局發出了一個“友情提醒”，希望企業明白誰是真正的老大。
阿里巴巴直接僱用逾3.4萬人。它擁有7萬“淘寶村”商家，爲農村地區帶來電子商務和就業機會。去年，該公司宣佈將在未來三到五年投資16億美元，以提振農村地區的在線購物。具有潛在破壞性的調查表明，該公司的規模、成功以及在（中國官方正試圖促進的）消費者經濟中所佔的核心地位，並不能使其免受監管部門的監督。阿里巴巴大而重要，但它不是不可侵犯的。投資者應牢記這一點。