JD.com Inc, China's second-largest e-commerce firm, said first-quarter revenue grew 41 percent from a year earlier, benefitting from a rapid expansion into goods like household supplies and food that has brought in new users. But fashion was also key.
 

Diversifying into data, cloud and artificial intelligence services amid fierce competition, the company also swung to a profit from a loss in the quarter.

"Margins benefited from our rapidly growing scale across all of our product categories," JD's Chief Financial Officer Sidney Huang said in a statement.

In Q1, Avène, the leading dermo-cosmetic brand for sensitive skin in European pharmacies, and three brands under Giorgio Armani, including EA7 Emporio Armani, Armani Jeans and Emporio Armani Underwear, launched flagship stores on JD.com’s direct sales platform, allowing them to leverage the company’s national same- and next-day fulfillment network.

And the company expanded its footprint in the home furnishing and apparel categories, announcing strategic partnerships at Milan Design Week with Savio Firmino, Bordignon and Contractin, three leading Italian furniture brands. In addition, JD partnered with Mercedes-Benz China Fashion Week and Shanghai Fashion Week to stage fashion shows featuring leading Chinese designers.

It also said it expects the spinoff of its financial arm to be completed in the second quarter.

JD said in November that it would seek to split off the unit making it a fully Chinese-owned entity, allowing it to apply for licenses that Chinese laws forbid foreign-listed firms from holding, including mutual funds and securities. Under the restructuring, CEO Richard Liu will be one of the buyers and JD.com will receive 40 percent of any pre-tax profit, an arrangement that bears similarities to the spinoff of Alipay from Alibaba in 2011, which has since been re-branded as Ant Financial.

JD expects second-quarter revenue to fall between 86.6-89.1 million yuan excluding JD Finance, representing a growth rate of 33-37 percent, in line with analyst predictions of 36 percent.

JD made a net profit of 0.17 yuan per American Depository Share in the first quarter, compared with a loss of 0.66 yuan a year earlier.

Additional reporting by Sandra Halliday