JD.com Inc. posted a stronger-than-expected 1.7 percent rise in quarterly revenue, after heavy promotional spending propelled online transactions in the face of intense competition.

Revenue came to 247.7 billion yuan ($34.2 billion) in the September quarter, versus the 246.6 billion yuan average analyst estimate. Net income rose 33 percent to 7.9 billion yuan. Its shares rose 4.5 percent in pre-market trading in New York.

The Beijing-based company has embarked on a price war to wrest market share away from rivals such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and PDD Holdings Inc., at a time consumers are cutting back in a downturn. It’s trying to reclaim ground lost both to its traditional rivals and newer entrants like ByteDance Ltd.’s Douyin. JD’s now pivoting toward offering consumers wider price ranges and product categories, diversifying from its traditional focus on bigger-ticket items such as smartphones, targeting more frugal post-pandemic shoppers.

It’s unclear if that’s having the desired effect. JD and its larger rival Alibaba likely logged mere single-digit percentage growth during the just-concluded annual Singles’ Day shopping festival, falling well short of ByteDance and other fledgling operators such as Kuaishou Technology.

By Jane Zhang

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Worldview: China’s JD.com Beats Q2 Revenue Estimates

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