Aug 13 (Reuters) – JD.com beat quarterly revenue estimates on Thursday, helped by a longer sales period for the annual 618 shopping festival, one of China’s largest online retail events.
The e-commerce giant reported a 2.9% decline in total revenue to 346.4 billion yuan ($51.37 billion) in the second quarter ended June, but higher than analysts’ average estimate of 344.6 billion yuan, according to data compiled by LSEG.
JD.com’s first quarterly revenue decline in more than a decade highlights the challenge of reviving consumer spending amid concerns about job security and weak consumer confidence stemming from China’s years-long property sector downturn.
U.S.-listed shares of the company were down about 2% in premarket trading.
This year’s annual mid-year shopping event, marking JD.com’s founding on June 18, 1998, ran for more days than the previous year, giving retailers and brands extra time to compete for spending through deep discounts and promotional campaigns.
Net profit in the quarter was 7.1 billion yuan, compared to 6.2 billion in the same period last year.
($1 = 6.7431 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Sophie Yu in Beijing; Editing by Pooja Desai and Keith Weir)
