JD.com’s revenue rises by 31% in Q4 due to growth in online shopping

Chinese ecommerce firm JD.com reported a 31% increase in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2020 on the back a boom in online sales, which got a push from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Photo credit: JD.com

Though China is among the first countries to embark on recovery from the challenges posed by health crisis, JD’s domestic costumers continued to prefer shopping online over visiting physical stores.

Its net revenue jumped to 224.3 billion yuan (US$34.6 billion) in the fourth quarter, up from 170.7 billion yuan (US$26.3 billion) a year ago.

The company’s retail segment, which houses luxury brands like John Lobb, Stefano Ricci, Vivienne Westwood, and LVMH Group’s JW Anderson, among others, contributed to the largest chunk of its total revenue in Q4. The segment’s revenue rose to US$208.6 million from US$163.1 million in the previous corresponding period.

“JD saw accelerated revenue and user growth during the fourth quarter driven by our long-term operating philosophy and customer-centric value proposition despite the ongoing market challenges,” said CEO Richard Liu.

The Beijing-based firm also highlighted that its growth trajectory in the quarter was driven by its supply chain-based model, which has yielded increasingly diversified sources of revenues.

JD said it’s looking to enter 2021 with “strong momentum” as it saw positive development with its new businesses. This includes JD Health’s initial public offering, the submission of JD Logistics’s listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and the progress of JD Property’s series A financing.

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The ecommerce player said its annual customers also increased by 30.3% to 471.9 million in 2020 from 362 million in 2019.