The "longest" Double 11 in history has come to an end, and the e-commerce landscape has quietly undergone changes.
On November 14th, JD Group released its third quarter performance for 2024. According to the financial report, the revenue for the third quarter of 2024 was 260.4 billion yuan, an increase of 5.1% year-on-year. The net profit attributable to common shareholders of the listed company under non US GAAP is 13.2 billion yuan.
Among them, the year-on-year growth rate of core advantageous categories such as 3C home appliances has increased, while the revenue of daily necessities categories has maintained high single digit year-on-year growth for three consecutive quarters.
This year's Singles' Day, e-commerce platforms have shifted from gaming to "cooperation". On the eve of Double 11, Alibaba, JD.com, Tencent, and Meituan successively announced the opening of multi angle interconnectivity, which stimulated the consumer activity of this year's Double 11 promotion.
In the third quarter, with the overall consumer confidence recovering, JD's revenue growth accelerated, "said Xu Ran, CEO of JD Group. JD continued to promote the growth of daily necessities in this quarter, and users responded positively during this year's Double 11 promotion period.
She revealed at the performance meeting that there is huge potential in the Chinese e-commerce market, and JD.com plans to maintain its competitive advantage by improving user experience and user growth. JD.com will continue to invest in self operated supply chains, logistics services, and user mindset enhancement, especially launching innovative services in categories such as clothing and beauty to attract more users.
The year-on-year growth rate of revenue from 3C home appliances and other industries has increased, and the "trade in" policy has boosted consumption
According to the financial report, JD's net revenue in the third quarter was 260.39 billion yuan, compared to 247.7 billion yuan in the same period last year; The net profit of NON-GAAP in the third quarter was 13.2 billion yuan, an increase of 23.9% year-on-year.
Specifically, the year-on-year growth rate of core advantageous categories such as 3C home appliances has increased, while the revenue of daily necessities has maintained high single digit year-on-year growth for three consecutive quarters, and the revenue of supermarkets and clothing categories has grown in double digits year-on-year; The service revenue is approximately 55.8 billion yuan.
In terms of business, JD Retail's operating profit in the third quarter was 11.001 billion yuan, JD Logistics' operating profit was 288 million yuan, and new business operations incurred a loss of 192 million yuan.
The financial report also shows that JD's operating costs increased by 3.1% from 208.9 billion yuan in the third quarter of 2023 to 215.3 billion yuan in the third quarter of 2024. The group's marketing expenses increased by 25.7% from 8 billion yuan in the third quarter of 2023 to 10 billion yuan (1.4 billion US dollars) in the third quarter of 2024. The percentage of marketing expenses to revenue was 3.8% in the third quarter of 2024 and 3.2% in the third quarter of 2023, mainly due to an increase in expenses for promotional activities.
It is worth noting that the first addition of the government's "trade in" subsidy has added vitality to Double 11, fully activating the consumption of household appliances, home furnishings, and home decoration. According to star chart data, during the "Double 11" period, the sales of household appliances on comprehensive e-commerce platforms were the highest, reaching 193 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.5%. According to the financial report, during JD's Double 11 shopping festival, over 90% of rural users in counties across the country exchanged their old products for new ones through JD. JD.com has invested over 4 billion yuan in subsidies and resources, while also adding 1 billion yuan to comprehensively expand its clothing category.
Xu Ran revealed at the performance meeting that according to statistical data, this policy has significantly increased market demand for categories such as home appliances and computers, with sales growth increasing month by month, reflecting the effectiveness of the policy and the release of market demand. It is expected that with the continued implementation of the policy and the increase in production capacity, consumption will be further boosted.
She also revealed that during the Double 11 period, JD's user traffic and purchase frequency have significantly increased, demonstrating the effectiveness of its strategy. JD.com expects to continue to maintain rapid growth in user numbers and order volumes, while closely monitoring key indicators to achieve high-quality development.
Consumer demand for household appliances, computers and other categories has increased, and government subsidies have stimulated and driven industrial development
The financial report also shows that JD's "Spring Morning Plan" has driven a year-on-year increase of over 20% in transaction users and over 30% in order volume for third-party merchants.
In terms of research and development, the financial report stated that JD's research and development expenses increased by 15.9% from 3.8 billion yuan in the third quarter of 2023 to 4.4 billion yuan in the third quarter of 2024. In terms of the percentage of R&D expenses to revenue, it was 1.7% in the third quarter of 2024 and 1.5% in the third quarter of 2023.
Since the comprehensive transformation towards technology in 2017, JD's R&D investment has accumulated over 130 billion yuan as of the third quarter. At the JD Cloud Summit in the third quarter, JD Cloud released three intelligent platforms and five technological products, including Enterprise Big Model Service, Yanxi Intelligent Agent Platform, Intelligent Programming Assistant JoyCoder, and Yanxi Digital Human 3.0.
As of the third quarter, JD Group maintained a 30 day inventory turnover of over 10 million SKUs of self operated products.
In terms of personnel, the number of employees in the JD system has increased nearly tenfold in the past 10 years, reaching 620000 people. According to the financial report, in the third quarter, JD 2025 campus recruitment was launched globally. This campus recruitment opened 18000 positions, including 12000 positions for 2025 graduates and more than 6000 internship positions. At the same time, the salaries of the 2025 campus recruitment positions will be comprehensively increased.
From the initial battle for traffic to now emphasizing merchant support, interconnectivity, and jointly creating a favorable business environment, platforms are gradually emerging from the quagmire of price wars and entering a new growth track.
Xu Ran stated at the performance meeting that the series of consumer goods subsidy policies not only aim to stimulate consumption in the short term, but more importantly, hope to drive the healthy development of related industries through this approach, thereby increasing employment opportunities, improving residents' income, and enhancing consumer confidence. It is expected that the trade in policy introduced by relevant departments will have a positive impact on the retail and manufacturing industries. At present, it has been observed that the consumer demand for categories such as home appliances and computers is increasing, and platform visits and traffic are also growing.
New Beijing News Shell Finance Reporter Cheng Zijiao