BEIJING - Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba created over 36.8 million jobs last year via its expansive retail ecosystem, a report showed.

The company's various e-commerce platforms like Tmall and Taobao, which covers over 500 million consumers, offered about 14.05 million jobs to online retailers in 2017, according to a report from the Renmin University of China.

Apparel and textiles, daily necessities and home appliances were the top three retail items that offered the most jobs, the report showed.

The booming online retail service also helped boost demand for professionals in upstream and downstream sectors like R&D, design, manufacturing and logistics, totaling about 22.76 million jobs.

Alibaba saw its revenue grow 56 percent year on year in the fourth quarter of last year.

As the e-commerce market evolves, more professionals who can make mid-and-long-term development plans, capable of reforming business models and combining digital technologies with offline retail skills that are in high demand, according to the report.