JD.com, the Chinese e-commerce business that attempts to compete with Alibaba and is heading towards a New York IPO, has said it will probably remain lossmaking "for some time".

中国电子商务网站京东(JD.com)周四表示，亏损可能还将持续“一段时间”。京东正在筹备在纽约的首次公开发行(IPO)。

In an SEC filing JD said it had made revenues of $11.5 bn in 2013 and a net loss of $410m. The company lost a similar amount in 2012.

在递交给美国证交会(SEC)的一份文件中，京东称去年实现收入115亿美元，净亏损4.10亿美元。该公司2012年的亏损额与此类似。

The online retailer said it was not profitable because, while it was managing to grow sales volumes, profit had remained elusive because of intense competition in its industry.

京东表示，尽管公司成功扩大了销量，但由于行业内部的激烈竞争，何时盈利仍无法预期。

JD said:

京东在文件中：“中国在线零售行业竞争激烈。”

The online retail industry in China is intensely competitive.

该公司补充称，计划大举投资扩大业务，以从供应商那里获得更有利价格，这可能会让它在未来实现盈利。

The company added it planned to invest heavily in growing the business, to attempt to get better terms from suppliers, which could lead to profits in the future.

京东表示：“我们实现盈利的能力，将在很大程度上取决于我们能否通过下列途径来扩大我们的总利润率：在我们的业务规模扩大之际从供应商那里获得更有利价格、管理我们的产品组合、拓展我们的在线市场以及提供更高利润率的增值服务。

JD said:

因此，我们计划在可预见的将来继续大举投资于我们的基础设施和技术平台，以支持更多的产品选择并提供更多的增值服务。基于上述这些，我们认为，我们可能会在未来一段时间内产生净亏损。”

Our ability to achieve profitability will depend in large part on our ability to increase our gross margin by obtaining more favorable terms from our suppliers as our business further grows in scale, managing our product mix, expanding our on-line marketplace and offering value-added services with higher margins.

本月早些时候，中国互联网巨头腾讯(Tencent)承诺购入京东上市前15%股份。

Accordingly, we intend to continue to invest heavily for the foreseeable future in our fulfillment infrastructure and technology platform to support an even larger selection of products and to offer additional value-added services. As a result of the foregoing, we believe that we may incur net losses for some time in the future.