China's e-retailer competition

 

Alibaba's Tmall.com leads China's Business-to-Consumer market. As of the first quarter of this year, Tmall.com accounts for 59 percent of the market while JD.com's share stands at 23 percent. TMall.com is a predominantly third-party platform while JD.com initially sold only its own merchandise but has added a marketplace for other vendors to sell.

Growth merchandise value, or GMV, for Alibaba experienced 40 percent growth year-on-year. That number was 99 percent for JD.com, or roughly twice the industry's average growth pace. In terms of total numbers, though, JD.com still lags far behind. The e-retailer's GMV, including its sales and those of other merchants selling on its platform, was just 14.6 percent of Alibaba's.

That said, however, JD.com appears to be closing the gap. Its first quarter net loss was 710.2 million yuan, sharply down from its 3.8 billion yuan net loss last year. Meanwhile, Alibaba boasted a first-quarter profit of 2.87 billion yuan.