JD Rides on User Growth: Can Retail & Food Delivery Drive More Gains?

JD.com's JD accelerating user growth is emerging as a powerful driver for both its core Retail business and New Businesses such as Food Delivery. In the second quarter of 2025, robust gains in user traffic, quarterly active customers (QAC) and shopping frequency resulted in 20.6% Retail revenue growth and a 199% surge in the new business segment through food delivery. This underscores how growing engagement is supporting better monetization.

The 618 Grand Promotion was a turning point, with JD recording 2.2 billion orders and more than doubling year-over-year growth in purchasing users. QAC growth accelerated over 40%, reaching a new milestone, while shopping frequency climbed at a similar pace. For JD Plus members, the frequency of use increased by over 50%, highlighting the loyalty of the company’s premium user base and their willingness to spend more frequently across the platform.

Accelerating user growth is making Food Delivery an increasingly pivotal driver for JD. Its high-frequency use builds engagement and supports Retail spending. To keep this momentum, the company is investing in logistics and tech, highlighted by its JoyExpress launch in Saudi Arabia and plans to double overseas warehouses by 2025.

Ultimately, JD’s rapid user growth and rising engagement are expected to power both Retail and Food Delivery. As traffic, active customers and shopping frequency continue to rise, Retail should benefit from stronger sell-through and margin gains, while Food Delivery stands to improve efficiency and expand its role as a daily-use driver. Together, these dynamics reinforce JD’s ability to expand market share and unlock sustained value across its platform.

Rivals Challenge JD.com in User Growth Race

Alibaba Group BABA has rapidly expanded user engagement through its Taobao Instant Commerce service, achieving 300 million monthly active consumers by August 2025 — a 200% surge since April. Daily orders peaked at 120 million, showcasing Alibaba’s strong ability to capture evolving quick commerce demand. Despite heavy spending on customer acquisition, Alibaba’s vast ecosystem across Taobao, Tmall and logistics ensures stickiness and incremental growth. This positions Alibaba as a formidable rival to JD in China’s fast-evolving e-commerce landscape.

PDD Holdings PDD has achieved strong user growth through Pinduoduo in China and Temu overseas, rapidly expanding monthly active users across markets. PDD Holdings often surpasses JD in attracting incremental users, particularly in lower-income and international segments, though it faces challenges in margins and supply chain control. With Duo Duo Grocery now reaching 70% of Chinese villages, PDD Holdings is boosting customer reach by connecting farmers, SMEs and consumers, reinforcing its strategy to sustain rapid user acquisition and long-term market relevance.

JD.com's Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

JD.com’s shares have gained 1.3% in the year-to-date period, underperforming both the Zacks Retail and Wholesale sector’s rise of 8.6% and the Zacks Internet-Commerce industry’s growth of 12.2%.

JD’s YTD Price Performance

From a valuation standpoint, JD.com is trading at a forward 12-month price-to-earnings ratio of 10.35X, lower than the industry’s 24.7X. JD carries a Value Score of A.

JD’s Valuation

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for JD’s 2025 and 2026 earnings is pegged at $2.72 and $3.58 per share, respectively, and has remained unchanged over the past 30 days for both years. These figures suggest a year-over-year decline of 36.15% for 2025 and growth of 31.74% for 2026.

JD.com currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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