In five years, e-commerce will account for 30% of total retail sales in China, Alibaba chairman and CEO Jack Ma said yesterday in a passionate speech that displayed his unwavering belief in the continuing development of the sector.

“Traditional businesses still think e-commerce is a business model. It is not, it is a lifestyle,” he told the audience at Credit Suisse’s Asian Investment Conference, adding that in 10 years nobody will talk about e-commerce as it will be a natural part of everyone’s lives, just like nobody is talking about electricity today.

The Alibaba Group, which includes Taobao, the popular consumer-to-consumer online shopping platform, and business-to-consumer sales...