Ma Yun, chairman of China's largest e-commerce firm Alibaba Group, expects 30 percent of China's total retail sales to be conducted online within the next five years, Ma told the Credit Suisse Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong Wednesday.

Ma, who founded Alibaba in 1999 and has since become one of China's best-known corporate names, said his forecast was based on "conservative" estimates. He said the next five years would be the "golden" period for e-commerce in China.