Alibaba Health Reports FY2021 Results: Over 280 Million Active Consumers on Its Pharmaceutical E-commerce Platform

On the evening of May 25, AliHealth released its annual results announcement for fiscal year 2021 (ended March 31, 2021). According to the announcement, AliHealth’s full-year revenue reached RMB 15.52 billion, representing a year-on-year growth of 61.7%. The profit amounted to RMB 343 million, marking a turnaround from loss to profit for the fiscal year. During the reporting period, multiple platforms operated by AliHealth achieved rapid user growth. Notably, the annual active users of the Alipay Healthcare Channel exceeded 520 million; the Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) of the Tmall Pharmaceutical Platform reached RMB 123.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 47.5%, with over 280 million annual active consumers, an increase of 90 million compared to fiscal year 2020.

In this earnings announcement, AliHealth has divided its business segments into four major categories: proprietary pharmaceutical sales, pharmaceutical e-commerce platform services, healthcare services, and digital infrastructure. Notably, it has redefined consumer healthcare, internet healthcare, and other businesses as the "healthcare services" segment for the first time.

From the perspective of the two business segments involving pharmaceutical e-commerce, the Tmall Pharmaceutical Platform operated by AliHealth is the largest pharmaceutical e-commerce platform in China.

The announcement revealed that the Tmall Healthcare platform has served over 23,000 merchants, offering consumers more than 33 million health product SKUs. Revenue from its proprietary pharmaceutical business reached RMB 13.216 billion, representing a year-on-year growth of 62.5%. The proportion of drug revenue contributed by AliHealth Pharmacy increased to 64.8%, while annual active consumers surpassed 81 million, an increase of 33 million year on year.

As the Tmall Health platform accumulated a larger user base and expanded its product SKU offerings, AliHealth began to deepen its collaborations with pharmaceutical companies, with drug sales now accounting for over 60% of its self-operated healthcare business revenue.

It is reported that AliHealth has established in-depth collaborations with hundreds of renowned pharmaceutical companies, leveraging its digital capabilities to help these companies reach consumers. In April this year, AliHealth announced the formation of the “Tmall Good Medicine Alliance” in partnership with top 100 global pharmaceutical firms. Tmall Good Medicine will provide pharmaceutical companies with five platform-level services: an IP traffic-sharing platform under the “Tmall Good Medicine” brand, a digital marketing platform for pharmaceutical enterprises, a medication service platform, a next-day drug delivery logistics platform, and a charitable drug donation platform.

In response, Zhu Shunyan, Chairman and CEO of AliHealth, stated at the event: “AliHealth’s vision is to become a trusted expert in safeguarding the health of you and your family. The ‘Tmall Good Medicine Alliance’ brings together the most distinguished experts from the global pharmaceutical industry to provide consumers with high-quality medicines sourced directly from originators, thereby addressing their medication challenges.”

AliHealth’s high growth in its pharmaceutical e-commerce business is also attributed to the professionalism and safety of its medication services. To enhance the safety of medication services, AliHealth has equipped itself with online doctors and pharmacists, while successively launching initiatives such as the Transparent Laboratory, an AI system for safe medication use, the “Little Blue Heart” mechanism for guaranteeing authentic drug purchases, and a four-tier verification process for merchant qualifications. These measures are designed to raise the overall safety standards across the entire pharmaceutical e-commerce supply chain, thereby ensuring the safety of online medication use.

Furthermore, AliHealth is accelerating its pharmaceutical logistics efficiency. According to the performance announcement, leveraging a distribution network of nine warehouses across seven locations, AliHealth has achieved next-day delivery in 100 core cities across China. The proportion of orders fulfilled via next-day pharmaceutical delivery services increased from 34.9% in the same period last year to 50.1%. Meanwhile, the one-hour "urgent medicine delivery" service has been launched in over 300 cities nationwide, with plans to expand coverage to more cities in the future to meet users' urgent medication needs.

“Whether measured by the scale of its user base, the total gross merchandise value (GMV) of health-related categories offered to consumers on its platform, or the value of professional pharmaceutical services delivered through its direct-to-consumer pharmacy operations, AliHealth is China’s largest pharmaceutical and healthcare service platform and the online pharmacy retailer with the highest drug sales revenue,” the announcement stated.