JD.com reports hefty losses in Q4 despite increases in sales and active customers
JD.com has reported increases in net revenues for Q4 and 2017. However, China’s largest retailer posted bigger-than-expected losses in the quarter ending 31 December.
JD.com posts annual results
The e-commerce site posted net loss of RMB909.2 million (US$139.7m) for Q4, a 27.9% decrease from RMB1,261.4m net loss for the same period last year.
JD.com’s net revenues were RMB110.2bn (US$16.9bn) for the fourth quarter, an increase of 38.7% year-on-year. Meanwhile, total sales for 2017 were RMB362.3bn (US$55.7bn), up 40.3% from 2016.
JD.com’s active customer base increased in 2017, up 29.1% to reach 292.5 million in December.
JD.com is China’s second largest e-commerce site after market leader Alibaba and has been investing heavily in its services as it seeks to grow the business globally.
The company has recently launched offices in Europe and Australia, and also plans to expand across Southeast Asia and launch into the US, in a bid to step up the competition with Alibaba.
JD.com has also been working closely with Chinese Internet giants Tencent and Baidu, Sougu and Nielsen, inking a number of partnership deals to boost its technology and online-to-offline retail strategies. Recent deals include investments in Better Life retail chain and online retailer Vipshop and a stake in Wanda Commercial.
Richard Liu, chairman and chief executive of JD.com, said, “As we implement our vision of ‘boundaryless retail,’ we are working with top industry players to build China’s most advanced and comprehensive retail ecosystem to reach consumers wherever and whenever they shop. Looking ahead, we will remain focused on using technology, AI and big-data to revolutionize e-commerce while leveraging JD’s established infrastructure to empower our partners.”