(Yicai) Nov. 18 -- Alibaba Group Holding reported a 63 percent surge in fiscal second-quarter profit from a year ago, powered by the Chinese internet giant's core e-commerce and cloud businesses.

Net profit was CNY43.9 billion (USD6.3 billion) in the three months ended Sept. 30, primarily because of mark-to-market changes in investments and enhanced operational efficiency, the Hangzhou-based firm said in an earnings report published on Nov. 15. Revenue rose 5 percent to CNY236.5 billion (USD33.7 billion).

“Our revenue growth this quarter was driven by improving monetization of Taobao and Tmall Group, which included gross merchandise volume-based service fees and merchant adoption of our marketing tool Quanzhantui,” Chief Financial Officer Toby Xu added.

Alibaba ramped up investment in Taobao and Tmall to enhance price competitiveness, customer service, membership program benefits, and technology. It also adopted a more open approach for payment and logistics services to make shopping more convenient to a larger base of consumers and boost merchants' operating efficiency.

On Sept. 1, Taobao and Tmall introduced a software service fee based on the GMV of completed transactions, which put the group's platforms in line with the common practice of the e-commerce industry. Alibaba's 88VIP membership program had double-digit growth in the period, expanding to 46 million users.

Revenue from Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group surged 29 percent to CNY31.7 billion, driven by the growth of cross-border businesses, in particular AliExpress' Choice.

“Growth in our Cloud business accelerated from prior quarters, with revenues from public cloud products growing in double digits and AI-related product revenue delivering triple-digit growth,”Chief Executive Eddie Wu said. 

Alibaba's Cloud Intelligence Group logged CNY29.6 billion in revenue, up 7 percent. As of Sept. 30, Alibaba's Qwen AI model family had been downloaded over 40 million times.

“We are more confident in our core businesses than ever and will continue to invest in supporting long-term growth,” Wu said. “Our other businesses continued to improve their operating efficiency, with most of them continuing to increase their profitability or reduce losses.”

"Our financial discipline enables us to navigate market challenges while executing on our strategic priorities," Xu noted. "We are encouraged by the strong performance in cloud and e-commerce as pillars of future growth."

Cainiao Smart Logistics Network saw its revenue grow 8 percent to CNY24.6 billion in the period, mainly driven by increased revenue from cross-border fulfillment solutions.

Income from Local Services Group, which includes navigation app Amap and takeaway app Ele.me, jumped 14 percent to CNY17.7 billion, while that from Digital Media and Entertainment Group fell 1 percent to CNY5.7 billion (USD811 million).

Editor: Futura Costaglione