Alibaba Group Holdings, the e-commerce conglomerate, is looking to reassure shareholders about its growth prospects as concerns rose over its decelerating revenue growth amid the nation's economic slowdown.
In a letter sent to shareholders released Thursday, Executive Chairman Jack Ma Yun said the economic slowdown in China has caused concern and even panic in some industries. But even faced with challenges, the economy has huge potential and the nation will remain an enormous market for e-commerce.
"I do not agree with the notion that consumption will decline as economic growth slows," Ma wrote in the letter. He said that idea reflected a lack of understanding of China, where people save for the future and have money to spend even during economic downturns.
Ma further predicted that within the next 10 years, over 50 percent of retail transactions in China would be conducted online, and more than 80 percent of Chinese companies would use e-commerce.
In a separate letter to shareholders, Alibaba CEO Zhang Yong said that within the next five years, Alibaba would be the first company in the world to have a trading volume of more than $1 trillion.
In the next 10 years, Zhang said that Alibaba would set up a global system to serve 2 billion customers, 10 million companies and create 100 million jobs.
