Alibaba's Qwen Platform Sees Order Surge During Lunar New Year
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: 1h ago
0mins
Should l Buy BABA?
Source: Benzinga
- Surge in Orders: During the Lunar New Year, Alibaba's Qwen platform processed over 120 million orders in just six days, indicating a strong consumer acceptance of AI-driven shopping, particularly from counties and rural areas where nearly half of the orders originated, highlighting significant market potential.
- Growth in Senior Users: Approximately 1.56 million individuals aged 60 and above made their first online purchases through Qwen, reflecting Alibaba's success in attracting new users, especially among the elderly demographic, thereby expanding its user base significantly.
- Incentive Measures Drive Engagement: Alibaba's Lunar New Year promotional campaign, launched on February 6, aims to distribute 3 billion yuan (approximately $431 million) in incentives through Qwen, designed to enhance user engagement and strengthen market competitiveness, particularly in the AI application sector.
- Behavioral Shift Indicator: Alibaba noted that the campaign triggered a shift in consumer behavior towards AI-powered shopping, with QuestMobile reporting significant increases in daily active users for major AI apps, signaling a potential inflection point for AI commerce that could reshape future consumer habits.
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Analyst Views on BABA
Wall Street analysts forecast BABA stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for BABA is 203.66 USD with a low forecast of 172.00 USD and a high forecast of 230.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
14 Analyst Rating
13 Buy
1 Hold
0 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 166.510
Low
172.00
Averages
203.66
High
230.00
Current: 166.510
Low
172.00
Averages
203.66
High
230.00
About BABA
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is an investment holding company mainly engaged in the provision of technology infrastructure and marketing platforms. The Company operates its business through nine segments. The China Commerce Retail segment is engaged in the China commerce retail business. The China Commerce Wholesale segment is mainly engaged in the operation of 1688.com. The Cloud Intelligence segment provides cloud services. The International Commerce Retail segment provides customer management services, sales of goods and logistics services. The International Commerce Wholesale segment is mainly engaged in the operation of Alibaba.com. The Cainiao Represents Logistics Services segment provides fulfilment services. The Local Services segment’s revenue includes platform commissions, logistics services revenue. The Digital Media and Entertainment segment engages in the operation of Youku and Alibaba. The All Others segment is mainly engaged in the Sun Art, Freshippo and other business.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
Alibaba's Qwen Platform Sees Order Surge During Lunar New Year
- Surge in Orders: During the Lunar New Year, Alibaba's Qwen platform processed over 120 million orders in just six days, indicating a strong consumer acceptance of AI-driven shopping, particularly from counties and rural areas where nearly half of the orders originated, highlighting significant market potential.
- Growth in Senior Users: Approximately 1.56 million individuals aged 60 and above made their first online purchases through Qwen, reflecting Alibaba's success in attracting new users, especially among the elderly demographic, thereby expanding its user base significantly.
- Incentive Measures Drive Engagement: Alibaba's Lunar New Year promotional campaign, launched on February 6, aims to distribute 3 billion yuan (approximately $431 million) in incentives through Qwen, designed to enhance user engagement and strengthen market competitiveness, particularly in the AI application sector.
- Behavioral Shift Indicator: Alibaba noted that the campaign triggered a shift in consumer behavior towards AI-powered shopping, with QuestMobile reporting significant increases in daily active users for major AI apps, signaling a potential inflection point for AI commerce that could reshape future consumer habits.
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- Valuation Analysis: While listed Chinese AI chip companies trade at triple-digit P/S ratios, Nvidia, which is profitable, has a P/S ratio of only 24, highlighting a stark contrast between the enthusiasm for AI in China and the rationality seen in Western markets.
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- Beta Testing Phase: The Seedream 5.0 is currently in beta testing on ByteDance's Jimeng and CapCut platforms, expected to attract more users and increase ByteDance's market share in the generative AI sector.
- Alibaba's New Product: Alibaba has launched the Qwen-Image-2.0 model, featuring a lightweight architecture for faster generation, claiming superior performance in rendering Chinese characters compared to Google's Nano Banana Pro, further solidifying its position in the AI market.
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Alibaba's Qwen Platform Sees Order Surge During Lunar New Year
- Surge in Orders: During the Lunar New Year, Alibaba's Qwen platform processed over 120 million orders in just six days, indicating a strong consumer acceptance of AI-driven shopping, particularly from counties and rural areas where nearly half of the orders originated, highlighting significant market potential.
- Growth in Senior Users: Approximately 1.56 million individuals aged 60 and above made their first online purchases through Qwen, reflecting Alibaba's success in attracting new users, especially among the elderly demographic, thereby expanding its user base significantly.
- Incentive Measures Drive Engagement: Alibaba's Lunar New Year promotional campaign, launched on February 6, aims to distribute 3 billion yuan (approximately $431 million) in incentives through Qwen, designed to enhance user engagement and strengthen market competitiveness, particularly in the AI application sector.
- Behavioral Shift Indicator: Alibaba noted that the campaign triggered a shift in consumer behavior towards AI-powered shopping, with QuestMobile reporting significant increases in daily active users for major AI apps, signaling a potential inflection point for AI commerce that could reshape future consumer habits.
See More
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- Spin-Off Plan: Alibaba is planning to spin off its T-Head unit for a separate listing, aiming to capitalize on the high market valuations of AI chip makers, which could generate additional capital inflow and enhance overall market competitiveness.
- Valuation Analysis: While listed Chinese AI chip companies trade at triple-digit P/S ratios, Nvidia, which is profitable, has a P/S ratio of only 24, highlighting a stark contrast between the enthusiasm for AI in China and the rationality seen in Western markets.
- Luxury Meets State Control: LVMH is handing over its Greater China duty-free operations to a state-owned enterprise, reflecting strategic adjustments in the luxury sector amid declining financials, which may impact future market performance and brand positioning.
- Investor Caution: In the Chinese market, AI is viewed as a
See More
ByteDance and Alibaba Intensify AI Competition Against Google
- New Model Launch: ByteDance has introduced the Seedream 5.0 generative AI image model, aiming to compete with Google's Nano Banana image editor at a lower price, claiming enhancements in reasoning capabilities and accuracy, which strengthens its competitive edge in the market.
- Beta Testing Phase: The Seedream 5.0 is currently in beta testing on ByteDance's Jimeng and CapCut platforms, expected to attract more users and increase ByteDance's market share in the generative AI sector.
- Alibaba's New Product: Alibaba has launched the Qwen-Image-2.0 model, featuring a lightweight architecture for faster generation, claiming superior performance in rendering Chinese characters compared to Google's Nano Banana Pro, further solidifying its position in the AI market.
- Open Source AI Model: Alibaba's RynnBrain model is designed to enhance robotics and task automation, capable of understanding spatial relationships and completing complex tasks, and is available to developers on platforms like Hugging Face and GitHub, showcasing its strong appeal in the open-source AI domain.
See More
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- New Product Launch: Direxion is launching four new single-stock leveraged ETFs on Wednesday, aimed at providing traders with amplified exposure to the semiconductor, e-commerce, and digital finance sectors, with an expected performance of twice the underlying stock's daily returns.
- Short-Term Trading Tools: These ETFs are designed for short-term tactical trading rather than long-term investing, reflecting Direxion's keen insight into market volatility and helping investors seize rapidly changing market opportunities.
- Digital Economy Leaders: The selected companies, including ASML, Marvell, Alibaba, and SoFi, are at the core of the digital economy, allowing investors to leverage these ETFs for precise trading of short-term bullish views related to semiconductor technology, e-commerce, and fintech.
- Product Line Expansion: This launch increases Direxion's total number of single-stock leveraged ETFs to 55, spanning multiple sectors such as technology, energy, aerospace, automotive, online commerce, and cryptocurrency, showcasing its ongoing innovation in packaging high-conviction trades.
See More
U.S. Commerce Secretary Discusses Nvidia Chip Exports to China
- Clear Licensing Requirements: U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick emphasized during a hearing that Nvidia must comply with detailed licensing terms developed in collaboration with the State Department for the sale of its second-most advanced AI chip, the H200, highlighting strict U.S. export regulations.
- Transaction Delays Impact: Despite President Trump's approval for Nvidia to export H200 chips to China, final clearance is still pending a national security review, creating uncertainty around potential revenue and market share for Nvidia in China.
- Increased Market Competition: Due to export delays, Chinese AI firms have turned to more expensive black-market hardware or lower-performing domestic alternatives like Huawei's Ascend series, indicating strong demand for Nvidia's products and increasing competitive pressure.
- Production Expansion Plans: Nvidia plans to scale up chip production in the second quarter of 2026 to meet surging orders from Chinese customers, reflecting the company's commitment to the Chinese market and expectations for future growth despite supply chain challenges.
See More
ByteDance Partners with Samsung to Develop AI Chips
- AI Chip Collaboration: ByteDance is partnering with Samsung Electronics to produce 100,000 AI chips in 2024, with plans to ramp up annual production to 350,000 units, significantly enhancing ByteDance's competitiveness in the AI sector while putting pressure on Nvidia's business in China.
- Increased Market Challenges: As ByteDance and other Chinese tech firms accelerate their efforts to develop AI chips domestically, Nvidia faces greater challenges, particularly with its H200 chip sales still awaiting government approval, which could impact its market share in China.
- Technological Progress and Strategic Positioning: ByteDance has been hiring chip-related staff since 2022 and has engaged U.S. chipmaker Broadcom for chip design, indicating a long-term strategic positioning in the high-end semiconductor field aimed at reducing reliance on external suppliers.
- Intensified Industry Competition: The SeedChip project positions ByteDance to compete with rivals like Alibaba and Baidu, which have already launched their own AI chips in the market, further intensifying competition within the industry.
See More
