Testing time ahead for Alibaba shares

Victor Anthony, an analyst with Axiom Capital, like Flynn, remains optimistic of its share performance.

"The lockup expiration should create share price volatility－but as with most lockups we see the supply being absorbed over time with consistent execution.

"The risk-reward to owning the shares at these levels is in investors' favor with an upside of 48 percent in our bull-case model, versus a downside of 13 percent in our bear-case model," said Anthony.

Wang Xiaoxing, an e-commerce analyst with Internet consultancy Analysys International, said Alibaba will remain China's dominant e-commerce player for some time to come.

"But with the increasingly furious competition of the e-commerce sector in China and the slowing growth momentum of its e-commerce business, the ride ahead of Alibaba will no longer be an easy one."

Facial recognition payment on cards

Alibaba's founder Jack Ma purchased an old German stamp for 20 euros ($21) on his website Taobao in the presence of Vice-Premier Ma Kai and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and paid for the same with his face.

During the opening ceremony of CeBIT, the world's largest high-tech trade fair in Hanover, Jack Ma introduced a new payment method "Smile to Pay" to the world. While he was paying, he took a picture of his face and after the image was recognized by the system, all he needed to do was a simple "confirm" click.

The technology was jointly developed by Zhejiang Ant Small & Micro Financial Services Group Co, a group which runs the online payment system Alipay, and a Chinese technology company, said Sabrina Peng, a top executive of Alibaba's finance unit.

"We don't have the schedule for when this technology will be fully applied to our payment system," she said

According to Peng, Alipay already has about 20 million global users. The company's aim is to reach 200 million users in the next three years.

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