JD.com (HKG:9618) swung to an operating profit in the second quarter even as revenue fell, as easing losses at its food delivery unit and lower marketing spending offset a drop in electronics sales, mainly due to a high comparison base last year.

The Beijing-based e-commerce and logistics company reported, after market hours on Thursday, an operating profit of 4.5 billion yuan for the three months ended June 30, compared with a loss of 900 million yuan a year prior.

Attributable net income rose to 7.1 billion yuan, or 2.51 yuan per share, from 6.2 billion yuan, or $2.07 yuan per share, a year earlier.

JD.com CFO Ian Su Shan said the company's operating margin hit a record high for peak promotional seasons following improvements in certain key categories.

Net revenue, however, fell 2.9% year over year to 346.4 billion yuan, which the company largely attributed to a high base effect.

"Despite near-term revenue headwinds, we achieved strong bottomline growth, marking a clear inflection in our profit trajectory," said JD.com CEO Sandy Xu.

"This improvement was primarily driven by solid profitability in our core JD Retail business and continued narrowing of loss at JD Food Delivery," Xu said, adding that the results underscore the strength of the company's supply chain-driven business model and operational efficiency.

The results also reflect a one-time hit in April when China's market regulator fined a JD.com affiliate roughly 635 million yuan over food safety compliance violations linked to a third-party cake vendor.

Elsewhere, the company said its JoyAI large language model helped triple the number of connected devices between the 11.11 promotion last year and this year's 618 promotion.

JD.com now uses AI and physical automation in demand forecasting, product sourcing, smart customer services and full-stack logistics automation, Xu said during the company's earnings call.