JD HEALTH returns to double-digit growth

The performance of the internet healthcare e-commerce giant is returning to a high-speed growth track.

On the evening of August 14, JD HEALTH (6618.HK) disclosed its semi-annual report, showing that revenue for the first half of 2025 was 35.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24.5%; during the same period, the net profit under non-International Financial Reporting Standards reached 3.57 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35%.

Although this growth rate is not as high as that of the same period in 2021-2023, it has increased by more than 20 percentage points compared to the 4.35% year-on-year revenue growth in the first half of 2024.

This marks the moment when JD HEALTH's revenue returns to double-digit growth after 2024.

This is largely due to the contribution of the core business of "pharmaceutical and health product sales," which generated 29.331 billion yuan in the first half of 2025, a year-on-year increase of nearly 1/4.

In terms of drug categories, JD HEALTH has secured over 30 innovative drugs, including Innovent Biologics' weight loss drug, Xin'ermei, and Xinlitai Pharmaceutical's new hypertension treatment drug, Xinchao Tuo, capturing the online sales market for innovative drugs.

Such revenue growth is particularly impressive against the backdrop of a sharp contraction in the overall retail pharmacy sector.

Since last year, retail pharmacies have been accelerating their clearance. In the fourth quarter of 2024, 14,000 stores closed, accounting for more than 1/3 of the annual total, and by the end of the first quarter of this year, the number of retail pharmacy stores had fallen below 700,000.

However, JD HEALTH's cooperation with third-party pharmacies is accelerating.

As of the end of June 2025, the number of merchants cooperating with JD HEALTH has exceeded 150,000, an increase of more than 50,000 compared to the end of 2024, with a year-on-year growth rate of nearly 90%.

This may have contributed to the accelerated growth of its advertising business, with revenue from "platform, advertising, and other services" reaching 5.959 billion yuan in the first half of 2025, a year-on-year increase of over 30%.

This year, as JD competes fiercely with Meituan, it may have brought significant traffic support to its health business.

An insider from a leading chain pharmacy told Xinfeng: "We can indeed feel that the traffic for pharmacies on JD is increasing."

However, JD HEALTH is also increasing its sales expenses, which reached 1.8 billion yuan in the first half of 2025, a year-on-year increase of 28.8%.

JD HEALTH also acknowledged that this was mainly due to increased spending on promotions and advertising, as well as expenses for technology and traffic support services provided by JD Group.

Beyond its core business of "selling drugs," JD HEALTH is also exploring new scenarios in the medical beauty business.

In July of this year, JD HEALTH's first offline self-operated medical beauty clinic quietly opened in Beijing's Yizhuang, with plans to open a second offline medical beauty clinic in Beijing's Guomao.

As the online and offline health ecosystems continue to intertwine, whether JD HEALTH can maintain high-speed growth is under scrutiny.