JD.com Inc, China’s second-largest e-commerce firm, reported a better-than-expected 33.1 percent rise in first-quarter revenue on Tuesday, helped by steady sales in a historically slow quarter.


The firm posted 100.13 billion yuan ($15.73 billion) in revenue for the three months ended March 31, compared with the average analyst estimate of 98.9 billion yuan.


JD.com posted a net gain of 1.04 yuan per American depositary share, versus 0.17 yuan a year earlier.


Sales are seasonally low for the country’s e-commerce firms in the March quarter, but are expected to pick up in the June quarter around JD.com’s flagship “618” sale event, China’s second-largest online shopping event after Singles’ Day.


($1 = 6.3666 Chinese yuan renminbi)