JD.com to open online luxury retail platform

Chinese e-commerce company JD.com Inc. plans to open a luxury platform on its online retail site, ratcheting up its competition with larger rival Alibaba Group for China’s high-end shoppers. Chinese consumers account for 30% of global luxury spending, and they are increasingly doing their high-ticket shopping at home as the Chinese government looks to stem capital outflows, according to The Wall Street Journal. JD invested about $400 million for a stake in UK-based high-end e-commerce platform Farfetch in June. Chief Executive Officer Richard Liu announced plans for the new platform as the company reported second-quarter earnings Monday, but didn’t provide further details. JD reported a loss of 496 million yuan, or $74.4 million, in the three months ending June 30 – nearly double its loss of 252 million yuan for the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose 44% to 93.2 billion yuan in the second quarter, and is expected to grow as much as 40% this quarter, JD said.