China-based Alibaba Group said its revenue rose 56% year-over-year to $12.76 billion for the quarter ended December 31. Alibaba, one of the world’s largest e-commerce firms, whose offerings include promotional products, reported that third-quarter net profit increased 36%. Net income tallied $3.6 billion. Adjusted EBITDA reached $5.56 billion, while operating margin was 31%.

“Alibaba had another great quarter driven by the continued strength of the Chinese consumer and the wide and innovative range of services we provide for merchants and consumers,” said Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group, which has additional businesses in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, retail and more.

The quarterly performance compelled Alibaba to raise its forecast for full-year revenue growth to a range of 55% to 56%, up from the top-end 53% forecast during the second quarter. Alibaba’s growth has allowed the company to devote funds to business channels beyond its primary e-commerce vertical. “Our core business generated significant free cash flow of US$7.1 billion during the quarter, enabling us to invest in New Retail, cloud computing, digital entertainment and globalization,” said Maggie Wu, CFO of Alibaba Group. 

As reported, revenue from Alibaba’s core commerce business increased 57% year-over-year to nearly $11.26 billion. Meanwhile, cloud computing sales jumped 104% to $553 million, while revenue from digital media and entertainment rose 33% to $832 million.

Still, the financial picture wasn’t all positive for Alibaba. For example, revenue from innovation initiatives and other activities decreased 9% from the prior year’s period to $119 million. Even so, Alibaba reportedly added 27 million consumers between September 2016 and the end of September 2017. At 515 million, Alibaba’s annual active consumers in China’s retail marketplace surpass the entire population of the United States by more than 190 million.