Alibaba to overtake Wal-Mart in race for shoppers

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has projected that it will overtake Wal-Mart Stores Inc as the world's biggest retail platform in 2015, a year earlier than its previous goal, the e-commerce company's new chief executive officer said.

More goods will be sold on Alibaba's platforms than by Wal-Mart this year, and the Chinese company aims to achieve $1 trillion gross merchandise value in five years, Daniel Zhang said on Wednesday.

In his first speech since being promoted last week to lead China's dominant e-commerce company, Zhang detailed his strategy, saying that international expansion is a top priority in the coming year.