China-based Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., a seller of promotional and various other products, has announced that its fiscal first-quarter revenue soared 56% to $7.4 billion, surpassing analysts’ estimates. The increases were mainly driven by the robust revenue growth of its China commerce retail business and Alibaba Cloud, as well as the expansion of its international customer base through Southeast Asian platform Lazada, the company said. The e-commerce firm’s annual active consumers reached 466 million, an increase of 12 million from the 12-month period ended March 31, 2017.

“Alibaba had a strong start to fiscal 2018, reflecting the strength and diversity of our businesses and the value we bring to customers on our platforms. Our technology is driving significant growth across our business and strengthening our position beyond core commerce,” said Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group and a member of Counselor’s Power 50, in the earnings report. “We are excited about the future as we continue to innovate and drive synergies among the businesses throughout the Alibaba ecosystem.”

While the company explores new revenue streams with projects related to data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and logistics, e-commerce continues to generate the vast majority of Alibaba’s revenue. For the quarter, sales across its e-commerce businesses rose 58% to $6.3 billion. Alibaba’s cloud computing business grew 96% to $359 million, with total paying customers breaking the one million mark for the first time. Its digital media and entertainment business increased 30% to $602 million.

“The significant growth in customer management revenue represents the differentiated business value we provide to our customers,” said Maggie Wu, CFO of Alibaba Group. “It is our intention to continue investing in long-term growth opportunities, some of which are already delivering significant value to customers and investors.”

Alibaba has ramped up expansion outside of China with a further $1 billion investment in Singapore-based e-commerce platform Lazada Group. The company is also targeting new merchants in Russia and the U.S., including a partnership between online shopping platform AliExpress and Chicago-based design firm crowdSPRING.