Low pricing pumps JD.com net up by 45pc

JD.com (9618) said its first-half net profit surged nearly 45 percent year-on-year to 23 billion yuan (HK$25 billion), thanks to a low-pricing strategy for its e-commerce platform.

During the April-June period, net profit grew 69 percent to 14.5 billion yuan compared to one year ago, beating market estimates.

Net revenues inched up by 1.2 percent to 291.4 billion yuan for the second quarter, while first-half income increased 3.9 percent year-on-year to 551 billion yuan.

JD Retail, a major revenue contributor, saw its operating income jump 24 percent year-on-year to 10.1 billion yuan in the second quarter.

In the first half, JD launched a mega mid-year online shopping festival where the Alibaba rival attracted more conservative consumers with lower prices. In July, it also launched Super 18 to offer discounted sales on the 17th to 18th of every month, featuring luxury goods as cheap as 18 yuan.

JD Logistics' operating income during the second quarter soared 328 percent to 2.18 billion yuan. The first half turned a profit of 2.4 billion yuan compared to an operating loss of 613 million yuan one year ago.

However, new businesses in the second quarter swung to an operating loss of 695 million yuan compared to gains of 1 billion yuan one year earlier, leading to a loss of over 1.36 billion yuan for the first half of the year.

Themis Qi