Chinese online retailer JD.com has reported a 111 per cent third quarter increase in sales – but finished in the red.
Gross Merchandise Volume for the three months was US$11 billion and net revenue $4.7 billion, up 61 per cent year-on-year as the company boosted active customer accounts from 22.1 million in the third quarter of 2013 to 46.1 million in the last quarter. Fulfilled orders soared from 81.5 million to 178.2 million.
Despite the massive growth, the company posted a modest (as a proportion of turnover) net loss of $26.8 million. This related to depreciation of intangible assets resulting from its partnership with Tencent. After removing those items, JD.com says profit was US$60.4 million.
JD.com founder, chairman and CEO Richard Liu said the strong momentum in the quarter was ahead of expectation in the key metrics of GMV and customers.
“We solidified our market leadership through multiple initiatives to enhance customer experience, extend coverage in lower-tier cities, increase mobile penetration and position JD.com as the most trusted e-commerce platform in China.
“We also improved our mobile offerings on both the JD.com native app and our level-one access points on Weixin and Mobile QQ, spurring mobile orders to grow more than five times year-over-year. Looking forward, we will continue to improve JD.com’s customer experience by extending our industry leadership in product authenticity, rapid delivery, and superior customer service.”
In July, JD Finance launched crowdfunding platform “Coufenzi” to provide funding for creative business concepts. Concurrently, JD.com also unveiled several crowdfunding projects focused on the smart hardware and popular culture industries.
In August, JD.com became the first e-commerce company in China to leverage high-speed rail for shipping. Six high-speed trains travelling daily between Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are used to deliver JD.com’s orders, which has reduced shipping time and enhanced JD.com’s customer experience.
In October, JD.com launched the initial phase of its first highly-automated “Asia No.1” warehouse in Shanghai as part of an initiative to strengthen its nationwide fulfillment infrastructure. The initial phase of the warehouse, comprising total floor area of 100,000sqm with capacity to sort up to 16,000 packages per hour, has expanded JD.com’s fulfillment ability to support its future growth.
JD.com had some 50,000 merchants on its online marketplace as of September 30, 2014 and a total of 62,051 full-time employees as of September 30, 2014.
