There’s little doubt that the recent IPO of Alibaba (BABA), the giant Chinese e-commerce site, has put the initial public offerings market in the spotlight once again. With its $22 billion debut on the New York Stock Exchange on September 19, the company became the largest IPO in history, beating Visa’s $17.9 billion offering in 2008. Alibaba’s shares surged 38 percent to close its first day of trading at $93.89. So what does all this mean for retail investors?