JD.com Reports 19% Rise in H1 Revenue, Faces 14% Profit Decline

JD.com, the Chinese e-commerce giant, continues to increase its sales. The company posted a turnover of 551.446 billion yuan (equivalent to $76.82 billion) in the middle of its fiscal year, 19% more than in the same period last year. Profit, however, fell by 14% to 17.988 billion yuan ($2.506 billion).

The Chinese company also had a good year in its second quarter, with turnover up 22.4% to 356.66 billion yuan ($4.968 billion).

However, its profit plummeted by 50% in the second quarter, to 6,709 million yuan ($934,6 million). The company assures that this drop in profit is due to an “increase in strategic investments in new businesses”, for which it has also increased investment in marketing.

JD.com links the fall in its profit to “increased strategic investments in new markets”

Retail remains its main market focus, with turnover rising to 573.92 billion yuan in the first half of the year ($79.95 billion), up 18.6% on the first six months of 2024. The logistics division, although smaller, also saw an increase of 14% to 98.531 billion yuan ($13.727 billion).

JD.com CEO Sandy Xu welcomed the “solid growth in user traffic” and also in purchase frequency. Looking ahead to the next results, he said that its retail business will remain the mainstay of its operations and reiterated that it will continue to focus on “reducing costs and improving efficiency”.

The company’s chief financial officer, Ian Su Shan, explained that the good results allow the company to “continue to develop initiatives in new businesses,“ including food delivery.

In the midst of its expansion plan, the company announced this summer that it was planning to acquire Ceconomy, the German parent company of MediaWorld, Saturn and MerdiaMarkt, for 2.2 billion euros in order to enter the European continent with a giant already established in the territory and be able to compete head-to-head with its rivals Temu and Shein.