Despite a fall in market share, e-commerce continued to boost online behemoth Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's 2016-17 revenue, which hit an all-time high of 158.3 billion yuan ($23 billion), up 56 percent year-on-year, in the year to March 31.

But net profit plummeted 42 percent year-on-year to 41.2 billion yuan, according to the company's annual report published on Thursday.

E-commerce accounted for 85 percent of revenue, down from 91 percent a year earlier.