Â
>>REAL-TIME UPDATES IN THE WIRE. CLICK HERE<<<
Â
Â
JD.com reported better-than-expected revenue for the second quarter of the year as the Chinese e-commerce giant’s focus on lower-priced products paid off in the fight for customers in an economic slowdown.
The company’s second-quarter revenue increased by 7.6% year over year to 287.9 billion yuan ($39.7 billion), beating analysts’ average estimate of 278.85 billion yuan. Net profit reached 6.6 billion yuan, compared with 4.4 billion yuan a year earlier.
Operating profit more than doubled to 8.3 billion yuan and the results were partially offset by a narrowing non-operating income of 1.2 billion yuan, which JD.com attributed to “net losses arising from fair value changes of investment securities, compared to net gains the same quarter last year, and the increase in impairment of investments, it said.
Chief Executive Sandy Xu said the number of JD’s marketplace merchants more than doubled and reached a new record during the quarter.
“JD.com delivered both revenues and profitability ahead of our expectation in the second quarter, an encouraging trend we are happy to see amidst our business adjustment and a highly competitive market environment,” said Chief Financial Officer Ian Su Shan.
Helped by its so-called ten billion yuan subsidy programme, customers are also logging on to JD.com’s platform more often to make purchases, the company said, without providing figures.
Xu said in some core categories, such as electronics where JD.com is a strong player, the company continued to increase market share in the second quarter despite a weak property market and modest recovery in durable goods demand. “In fact the electronics category is still facing pressure,” she said, “but we outperformed the industry.”