(Bloomberg) -- JD.com Inc. is on track to emerge from a record sales funk as a bounce-back in parts of China’s consumer economy and a $1.4 billion discounting program help revive its online commerce business, a top executive said.

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Retail chief Xin Lijun expects JD’s core e-commerce business to accelerate this quarter after the company posted its lowest-ever pace of overall revenue expansion during the January to March period. JD Retail’s sales should return to growth, he said, after declining 2.4% last quarter. All that reflects a gradual, if uneven, rebound in consumer sentiment following China’s Covid Zero years that should underpin a broader recovery in 2023’s back half.

“You will see an upward curve of growth rate when we release the results for the second quarter,” Xin, who runs the main retail and commerce operations, told Bloomberg Television this week. “We are relatively optimistic and confident in the second half of the year, overall.”

Chinese retail sales grew 12.7% in May but was down from April and less than projected. Along with disappointing data on unemployment and investment, that suggests the world’s second largest economy is struggling to regain its footing. Still, Beijing is prioritizing economic growth and once again allowing its giant private sector to expand, after a two-year clampdown that obliterated growth in sectors such as online commerce.

JD is wrestling with internal issues as well. Its chief executive — once the presumptive heir to billionaire founder Richard Liu — is departing just as the company grapples with intensifying competition from traditional rivals Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and PDD Holdings Inc. as well as upstarts like ByteDance Ltd.