E-commerce has been a major benefiter of lockdowns and shelter-in-place guidelines. More people are shopping more frequently online than ever before. According to IBM, the pandemic has accelerated the shift from physical retail to e-commerce by some 5 years. Another major trend in the online world is the shift from on-premise to the cloud. Having applications, data, and other important tools on the cloud makes the product deployment, maintenance, and upgrades more efficient. One company that seems to be benefitting from these shifts is the Alibaba Group.
Alibaba Group is among the top cloud computing stocks
You may recognize Alibaba as one of the top e commerce stocks in the world. After all, it operates well-known platforms like Taobao, AliExpress, Tmall, Alibaba, etc. However, Alibaba has more to its business model than just e-commerce. Alibaba, through its subsidiary Alibaba Cloud offers services like cloud computing, big data solutions, database solutions, etc. Alibaba is the biggest cloud computing provider by market share in China. Cloud computing is Alibaba’s second-largest source of revenue. It is also the faster-growing segment for Alibaba.
Digital Media, Entertainment, and Mobile Money
Alibaba has also built a substantial business in the entertainment and digital media space. It owns a film company called Alibaba Pictures. It also owns the ticketing platform Damai and the music platform AliMusic. Video platform Youku Tudou is also owned by the Alibaba Group. Mobile payments are another huge area for growth and Alibaba operates online payment platform Alipay. The fact the Alibaba owns and operates platforms in multiple areas allows it to leverage the data gathered from each platform and cross-sell its products/services. It also allows the company to provide the user with a seamless experience for all their online needs. No doubt Alibaba is one of the top entertainment stocks to buy.
Alibaba’s stock closed at $288.17 on October 2nd, 2020, up 2% for the past month and 31% year-to-date.
