China's major online discount retailer Vipshop Holdings Limited reported a 4.8 percent year-on-year increase to 17.1 billion yuan (about 2.53 billion U. S. dollars) in gross profit in 2018.

The NYSE-listed company announced on Thursday its unaudited financial results for Q4 of last year and the overall results for all of 2018.

Net income attributable to shareholders increased 9.2 percent to 2.1 billion yuan, the report said.

Total net revenue rose by 8.1 percent for Q4 of 2018 to 26.1 billion yuan, gaining for 25 consecutive quarters, with a nearly-doubled growth rate of 15.9 percent for the full year.

"We saw a healthy sequential recovery of our bottom-line, which is mostly attributable to our focus on the highly profitable apparel category," said Yang Donghao, chief financial officer of Vipshop.

A solid increase was seen in gross merchandise value (GMV) in 2018, up 21 percent year-on-year to 131 billion yuan.

Starting from the Q4 in 2018, GMV contribution from the apparel category, with a relatively high return rate among all categories, has increased since the company shifted low-margin products from its first-party business into the marketplace platform to improve profitability.

Jumping up by 35 percent for the full year, total orders in Q4 last year reached 140.3 million from that in Q4 2017, accounting for 32 percent of the year's 437.4 million total.

The number of active customers maintained a double-digit growth year over year in Q4 to hit 32.4 million, including 3.2 million customers enrolled in Vipshop's Super VIP Paid Membership Program as of Dec. 31, 2018.

Eric Shen, chairman and CEO of Vipshop, stated that the company will continue to drive long term growth and profitability by aiming to bring highly desirable selections of products to its customers on a daily basis.

"During this quarter, our total active customers grew by 13 percent year over year, which is a testament of the effectiveness of our merchandising strategy," Shen said.

Launched in 2008 as Vipshop.com, the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012, and a year later launched Vip.com.