China’s JD.com posts 62 pct rise in quarterly revenue

JD.com Inc, China’s No.2 e-commerce company, reported a 62 percent rise in quarterly revenue, topping analysts’ expectation as the number of active customer accounts across its sites nearly doubled from a year earlier.

First-quarter revenue of 36.6 billion yuan ($5.90 billion) exceeded analysts’ estimate of 35.65 billion yuan, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Gross merchandise volume (GMV), or the total value of goods sold on JD.com, nearly doubled to 87.8 billion yuan ($14.14 billion) in the quarter ended March, with roughly 42 percent of all fulfilled orders coming from mobile devices, the company said.

Excluding certain items, losses widened to 2 cents per American depositary share, from 1 cent, as it spent heavily to broaden its inventory and on marketing.

The Beijing-based company’s business, like bigger U.S. peer Amazon.com Inc’s, is built on selling products it purchases through its own logistics network. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, on the other hand, has grown its business quickly by connecting sellers to buyers rather than stocking its own merchandise.

The difference in business models has allowed JD.com to market itself as a purveyor of authentic goods, while its larger rival has wrestled with occasional, high-profile controversies over fake products.

When JD.com announced in April that it would sell and warehouse clothes from Japanese giant Uniqlo, the e-tailer touted the deal as an example of its growing ability to offer customers mainstream labels and authentic clothes.

JD.com last month launched its JD Worldwide cross-border online shopping platform, a challenger to Alibaba’s Tmall Global service.

It also announced on Friday its participation in a $500 million investment in Tuniu Corp.

The company’s U.S.-listed shares have risen close to 60 percent since its IPO last May.

($1 = 6.2089 Chinese yuan renminbi)