Baozun Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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November 21, 2024

There are 9 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by for Balson's 3rd Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After management's prepared remarks,

Speaker 1

there will

Operator

be a question and answer session. As a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the meeting over to your host for today's call, Ms. Wendy Sun, Senior Director of Corporate Development and Investor Relations of Balsam. Please proceed, Wendy.

Speaker 2

Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Our Q3 2024 earnings release was distributed earlier before this call and is available on our IR website atir.baozheng.com as well as on PR Newswire services. I have also posted a PowerPoint presentation that accompanies our comments to the same IR website where they are available for your download. On the call today from Baozun, we have Ms.

Speaker 2

Vincent Qiu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ms. Katherine Zhu, Chief Financial Officer Ms. Arthur Yu, President of Baozun E Commerce and Ms. Ken Huang, Chief Financial Officer of Baozun Management. Ms.

Speaker 2

Zhu will first share our business strategy and company highlights, followed by Ms. Zhu, who will discuss our financials and outlook and then by Mr. Yu and Mr. Huang to share more about our e commerce and Brands Management business separately. They will all be available to answer your questions during the Q and A session that follows.

Speaker 2

Before we begin, I would like to remind you that this conference call contains forward looking statements within the meaning of the U. S. Security Act of 1933 as amended, the U. S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended and the U.

Speaker 2

S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward looking statements are based upon management's current expectations and current market and operating conditions and relates to events that involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the company's control, which may cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those in the forward looking statements. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the company's filings with the U. S.

Speaker 2

Securities and Exchange Commission and its announcement notice or other documents published on the website of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. All information provided in this call is as the data appears and is based on assumptions that the company believes to be reasonable as of this date. And the company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward looking statement except as required and applicable law. Finally, please note that unless otherwise stated, all figures mentioned during this conference call are in RMB. In addition, we may elect to use adjusted in place of non general accepted accounting principles or non GAAP in order to reduce overall confusion that may cause from our discussions about financials and operations related to the GAAP grant.

Speaker 2

It is now my pleasure to introduce our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Vincent Chu. Vincent, please go ahead.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Wendy. Hello, everyone, and thank you all for your time. I'm pleased to report that Baozun is well on track with advancing our strategic transformation. Our total revenues grew by 13% year over year reflecting the strength of our revitalized approach and consistent operational alignment. Both BEC and BBM have enhanced key growth drivers.

Speaker 3

BEC achieved a 14% revenue increase driven by improvements in both services and the product sales. Notably, the Douyin business grew by triple digit year over year, directly resulting from our strategic integration with location and our commitment to launching innovations that capitalize on emerging trends. These initiatives have strengthened our presence on Douyin, further reinforcing Baozun's leadership in digital commerce. BBM has also resumed the growth with a 10% year over year increase, the first apple to apple revenue expansion since our acquisition. And in fact, following years of top line contraction from Gap brand in China.

Speaker 3

Our efforts to build partnerships have been instrumental in integrating global resources with local insights and networks and we anticipate sustained top line growth momentum in 2025. Hunter has also made solid progress as we continue refining product categories and optimizing our channel network. This momentum was highlighted by the recent launch of a pop up store in Shanghai, high fashion district, Zhangyuan. The opening generated remarkable attention during Golden Week, attracting widespread visibility that drives traffic and sales. These initiatives bolster Hunter's brand equity and further underscore our brand management capabilities and localization of brand appeal.

Speaker 3

In summary, Q3 has been a pivotal quarter of growth and the progress across our business segments. I'm confident about sustaining this momentum. Now let me pass to Katherine for financial update.

Speaker 4

Thanks, Vincent, and hello, everyone. Now let me share with you our Q3 2024 financial results in more detail. Please turn to Slide number 3. Baozun Group's total net revenues increased by 13% year over year to RMB2.1 billion. Of this, e commerce revenue grew 14% to RMB1.8 billion, while brand management revenue grew 10% to RMB331 1,000,000.

Speaker 4

Breaking down the e commerce revenue by business model, services revenue increased by 15% to RMB1.3 billion for the quarter. This growth was primarily driven by a 40% year over year increase in revenue from digital marketing and IT solutions, as well as improved performance in emerging channels such as Boeing and Tencent Mini Programs. BEC product sales revenue resumed the growth for the first time since the launch of our transformation plan, rising 10% year over year to RMB454 1,000,000. This growth was mainly driven by stronger performance in the beauty and cosmetics categories, along with increased contributions from our self incubated brands and those under the exclusive distribution business model. BBM product sales totaled $330,000,000 for the quarter, reflecting 11% year over year growth compared with the same period of last year.

Speaker 4

This growth was mainly attributable to our product segmentations and the merchandising plans. Please turn to Slide 4. From a profitability perspective, our blended gross margin at the group level for product sales was 28.1 percent and the gross profits increased by 2% to $220,000,000 Breaking this down by our key business lines, gross margin for e commerce product sales were 10.2% for the quarter. The decrease in gross margin for e commerce product sales was mainly due to a higher proportion of promotional rebates, mostly cash rebates from Brand Partners compared to the great proportion of procurement rebates in the same period of last year. On a like for like comparison basis, gross margin for e commerce expanded by approximately 500 basis points from the same period of last year.

Speaker 4

Gross margin for BBM was 52.9%, relatively flat compared to the previous quarter. Now turning to bottom line items, please refer to Slide 5. During the quarter, our adjusted loss from operations totaled $85,000,000 an improvement of $5,000,000 from a loss of $90,000,000 a year ago. This included an adjusted operating loss of $30,000,000 from e commerce segment, an improvement of $10,000,000 compared with $40,000,000 in the same period of last year. BBMs adjusted operating loss totaled $55,000,000 compared to $50,000,000 in the same period of last year.

Speaker 4

Our adjusted net loss attributable to shareholders for the quarter was $67,000,000 an improvement of 12.5% year over year from $76,000,000 in the same period of last year. As of September 30, 2024, our cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and the short term investments totaled RMB2.7 billion. Lastly, we continue to execute our share repurchase program. Year to date, we have repurchased approximately 8,600,000 ADS for US9.9 million dollars through the open market, reflecting our confidence in the company's future. Please note that our stock repurchase program must adhere to applicable U.

Speaker 4

S. And Hong Kong Statutors and Regulations as well as compliance requirements of NASDAQ and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, including but not limited to daily trading volume, trading windows and impact on management's voting rights. Year to date, we have repurchased approximately 6% of our total shares outstanding at the beginning of the year. As of today, the remaining amount of shares as authorized by our Board by our share repurchase program effective through January 2025 is US10 $1,000,000 Let me now pass the call over to Arthur to update you on BEC, our e commerce business.

Speaker 1

Okay. Thank you, Vincent and Catherine, and hello, everyone. We are glad to report that BEC continued its growth in quarter 3 achieving a 14% year over year revenue increase. Our services revenue further accelerated its upward trend and grew 15% year over year. Product sales also made a notable recovery to achieve a 10% year over year growth following years of contraction.

Speaker 1

We believe the improving top line momentum reflects the progress of our strategy to transform Biyi's business towards a healthier, more diversified and resilient model. Now please turn to slide number 6 for operational highlights on services. Our core categories, including apparel and luxury displayed consistent growth, setting a solid foundation for service revenues. Our brand partners are actively engaging with us on creative content and omni channel marketing to boost brand awareness online. Our continuous innovations in digital marketing had earned up several prestigious industry recognitions including the top notch award of best e commerce agency of the year at the recent ROI Festival.

Speaker 1

In terms of omni channel expansion, our Douyin business achieved triple digit growth year over year. We focused on brand centric live streaming and delivered several high impact projects. This included a brand live stream for a leading luxury automotive brand and a sales driven live stream for an international theme park brand. In addition, we hosted multiple high profile fashion show live streams, significantly enhancing both brand visibility and sales conversion for our brand partners. Beyond Douyin, we also recorded high growth on emerging platforms like Tencent's Mini program and Little Red Book.

Speaker 1

As a right partner on Little Red Book, we have made it a strategic focal point and we will continue to upgrade operations and marketing services to drive substantial growth for our clients on this recent content driven platform. Now turning to product sales as highlighted on slide number 7. The growth turnaround in product sales was mainly driven by our efforts in prioritizing high quality business lines and the completion of optimization of lower margin projects in previous quarters. Categories such as beauty and cosmetics, kids and baby, and home and furnishing achieved strong double digit growth. We also expanded our category metrics with new initiatives in apparel and trendy toys, further strengthening our diversification and business resilience.

Speaker 1

Regarding our exclusive distribution business, we are focusing on China expansion and brand marketing. Among the brands we operate, the British high end kitchenware brand Joseph Joseph sales performance this quarter far exceeded our expectations. We anticipate continued top line growth and improved profitability for our product sales business in the coming quarters. In addition to building a high OC top line growth, we also implemented efficiency enhancing measures through the application of AIGC tools. During the quarter, we launched our intelligent customer service assistance, Sway, to quickly understand and respond to consumer needs, delivering personalized high quality service.

Speaker 1

Finally, let me provide a quick update on the recent Double 11 Shocking Festival. Our total order value reached a record high with double digit year over year growth. Among all brand partners we participate in the campaign, more than half achieved year over year growth and 20% of the brands more than doubled their gross sales. Across channels, including Kmall, JD, Douyin and VIP Shop, we all achieved double digit growth. While the recent Double 11 was encouraging, the record high return rate also dropped down overall operating efficiency.

Speaker 1

As we headed into quarter 4, we remain cautious due to persistent microeconomic pressures and a slower than expected consumer recovery. We are committed to helping brands succeed in the competitive market in China. Now I will pass to Ken for an update on BBM.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Tim, and thank you all. Please turn to slide number 8 for additional insights into BBM's progress through Q3. I'm pleased to report that BBMs achieved 10% year over year revenue growth, making the 1st top line turnaround for Gap in recent years on an April to April basis. More encouragingly, Q3 demonstrated a steady sales momentum with sequential improvements from July through September. This growth reflects the earlier success of our strategic initiatives despite ongoing macro challenges.

Speaker 5

Close collaboration with Gap Inc's global resources remains central to our development plan. This close partnership enables us to tailor products to local preferences while preserving global brand integrity. We also incorporated the global campaigns such as Get Loose for regional appeal to create a seamless and satisfying experience for our customers. We continue to optimize planning and execution across design and the supply chains to enhance efficiency and the consistency from concept to delivery, ensuring better alignment of product availability with demand. During the quarter, we introduced the channel specific exclusive products and implemented a more strategic pricing reason aligned with the product lifecycle.

Speaker 5

On Douyin, in particular, we participated in the Superbren show for both adult and kids and baby, which drove the channel to account for over 40% of our online sales for the quarter. We expect exclusive products to continue being a major driver of our online sales in the coming months. This approach enabled us to achieve higher conversions while maintaining stable gross margins. In Q3, we opened 24 new stores including high performing stores in such as Ulumu Xi, Xi'an, Shaoxing as well as Beijing and Shanghai. These new stores delivered strong conversion rates, healthy gross margins and the impressive monthly productivity in terms of sales per square meter.

Speaker 5

As mentioned in our previous communication, we continue to fine tune our new store opening philosophy to maximize store productivity while capitalizing on opportunities in emerging markets. Additionally, we have enriched the shopping environment to be family friendly and enjoyable for all ages. Going forward, our expansion strategy will focus on quality locations, high traffic neighborhood areas in emerging cities. At the same time, we are leveraging local partnerships in new tier 1 and tier 2 cities to ensure that new openings align with market demand and the long term potential. We believe collaborating with strong local partners will not only enhance our success, but also mitigate market risks.

Speaker 5

A recent nationwide roadshow with existing and potential landlords and the franchise partners highlighted their increased confidence and the commitment to the brand goals. They stressed appreciation for Gap's consistent brand identity and our flexibility in localizing products and operations. We are on track to meet our annual target of 50 new stores, increasing total store footage year over year by the end of 2024. Additionally, we opened 2 new Hunter stores, 1 in Shanghai and the 1 in Singapore, bringing the total number of offline stores to 146 under our management by the end of Q3. In summary, despite the challenges of our gradual consumer recovery, we remain disciplined in our strategic direction.

Speaker 5

Our focus on localized engagement, coupled with Gap's global brand strength positions us well to expand our footprint, drive top line growth and maintain healthy gross margins. That concludes our prepared remarks. Thank you. Operator, we are now ready to begin the Q and A session.

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. The first question today comes from Alicia Yap with Citigroup. Please go ahead.

Speaker 6

Hi, thank you. Good evening, management. Thanks for taking my questions. Congratulations on the solid results. I have two questions.

Speaker 6

First is that, can management elaborate the overall performance during this year's singles days? Specifically, which category performed better than your expectation and which category performing slightly worse than your expectation? And then how is your GAAP China sales during the single phase? Also wondering if there's any differentiated shopping behavior that you observe this year compared to the previous year? And then second question is related to your advertising tool.

Speaker 6

So with more platforms are rolling out the AI advertising tool, so how will Baozun actually embrace the AI technology to capture even bigger opportunity? So have you seen or do you anticipate there could be more smaller brands, especially the domestic brands might be more eager or need to seek help from Baozun on helping them to do the better targeting digital ad campaign in the future? Thank you.

Speaker 1

Hi, Alicia. This is Arthur. Thank you for the question. Let me provide some answers for the 2 questions. The first one regarding the performance of the singles day for this year, I think we delivered actually a solid performance from our own perspective.

Speaker 1

So basically the categories which are our strength like the apparel, sports and luxury all performed pretty well during the Double 11 campaign. The ones which are not meeting our expectation are the small appliance and also travel, which is the hotel and same park, which are slightly below our expectation. The key character for this year is actually football journey is a true omnichannel Double 11. So basically, as I mentioned earlier, all the major channels and has shown a double digit growth, which means our business model is towards more an omnichannel business model. And also, there is a character, which we have seen is the period of Double 11 has become longer.

Speaker 1

And also the return rate and cancellation rate has been higher. So this is giving the campaign period more challenging, but the service provider like Bozun actually stand out during this period because our service capability and also our infrastructure and IT provides a stable service to the brand, which they really like. So this is what I would like to further comment on Table 11. Regarding to AIGC, we actually started to apply the AIGC technology to our business operation a couple of years ago. And from our perspective, AI will help the business from 2 aspects.

Speaker 1

Number 1 is improve the efficiency. As I mentioned in the prepared notes, so in this quarter, we successfully adopted a new tool called sways, which is helping our customer service agent to simplify the way they do work, improving the service quality at the same time, reducing the average lead time for each of the operation. So this is 1. And the second thing, the AI can help our operation is to give a better informed decision making tool to our brand. And from Baozun, we recently pushed out what we call Baozun Business Intelligence, which are helping the brand to collect and analyze the market data to inform them with a better merchandising and planning strategy.

Speaker 1

So those are how we applied AIGC tools in the day to day operations and we have seen the good results from those.

Speaker 2

Thank you. Maybe Ken can address the other kind of related question?

Speaker 5

Yes. And for the sales of Gap's performance on Double 11, I can explain. Our ranking total the final ranking in Men's Wear apparel on Tmall actually increased 3 positions compared to last year. The sales on both GMV and net sales increased by double digits. And this performance is not only on Tmall platform.

Speaker 5

This year, we even performed stronger on JD and other platforms. So in total, we are satisfied with our performance of GAAP sales on Double 11. Thank you.

Speaker 6

Thank you.

Operator

The next question comes from Frank Tao with CMVI. Please go ahead. Thank you. Hi, management. Thanks for taking my question.

Operator

I have a question regarding your business operating strategy. We've noticed a slowdown trend in the GMV growth rate of live streaming e commerce platforms this year. And I would like to ask how does management see this trend and will there be some adjustment to your business operating strategy in the coming quarters? Thank you.

Speaker 1

Okay. Thank you. This is Arthur. I will comment and then maybe Vincent can add more if it's required. So basically from my point of view, as I mentioned, we are already our mini channel operations.

Speaker 1

So the trend in the different channels will not fundamentally change our operations because what we are now offering the service and solution to our brand is to helping them to better planning which easy platform should they put more resource and advertise going forward to do the e commerce business. And based on that, we have developed a lot of tool and a lot of the analysis to help them make a decision in terms of how to them make a decision in terms of how to decide where to put resource on to. So this is the first one. And second one, given our stronghold is on Tmall And during this year's 11 and 618, we have seen a strong recovery in terms of the overall Tmall performance. That is also a good sign, which helping us to drive our business forward.

Speaker 3

Yes. I think this is Vincent. So right now, our capability is already established across all the channels and all the service components. That means that we have the capability to deliver services to each of the platforms in no matter it is a streaming commerce or not. And also, so we support all the channels.

Speaker 3

And just as Arthur mentioned, our business intelligence right now can have a close look of all the channels dynamics and tell us a little about the future trends, so we can allocate resources depends on the judgment for the future potential of each of the platforms to get a better result. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from Thomas Chong with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Speaker 6

Thanks management for taking my question. So I have 2 questions. My first question is about, so how is the monthly sales performance in recent months post Double 11? And my second question is, how should we think about like the outlook for categories like luxury apparel, FMCG and consumer electronics appliance? Thanks.

Speaker 1

Okay. Thank you for the question. I think given this year's Double 11, there's a lot of highway promotion and big discounts given by all the platform. Post Double 11, we have seen a softening sales from all categories. But with the wider catching quarter, especially for the apparel category, we hope there will be a recovery in terms of the sales going into the December.

Speaker 1

So this is the overall. In terms of the luxury apparel and FMCG, both categories, I think overall we have seen the growth rate being flat year over year and our outlook into the next year is relatively cautious. Having said that, I think what Baozun has been doing is to be able to provide a high quality service for the brand partners we operate. Given the current market condition, all the brand partners are starting to put a lot of emphasis in terms of their infrastructure and capability building, which means they like the partners like Bozun who has a very good capability across all the omni channel, which helps them to become a partner to help them to make a decision in terms of how to drive the business forward. And I think with that, we think even though the overall market outlook is relatively cautious, but under this market, there are huge opportunity for Bozun to operate and to succeed.

Speaker 1

Thank you.

Operator

And the next question comes from Jiawei Yin with CITIC. Please go ahead.

Speaker 7

Hello. Good evening, management. Thanks for taking my questions. Congrats on the solid quarter. And I have two questions.

Speaker 7

The first is that jd.com has also invested a lot in the clothing category for this year's Double 11 campaign and the growth rate is also very impressive. So how is Baozun's layout in this channel? And my second question is that we have seen many media reported that the return rate of the Love Lauren brand is very high. So what are Baozun's comments on this? And has there been a significant increase in consumer return rates, especially in the clothing category and for the brands operated by Baozun?

Speaker 7

Thank you.

Speaker 1

Okay. Thank you for the question. This is Arthur. Yes, we have also seen a good performance from JD platform. And Bozun has been working very closely with JD as their strategic partner to drive the growth of the apparel and sports category.

Speaker 1

And in 2023 2024, we have been voted as the most high level strategic partner, Jinzhou Yue partner, which means we have achieved a result. They think we are a good partner to them. So basically from a performance wise, our Gap brand is one of the top performing brands in JD. And also from a luxury brand perspective, top 10 brands operating in JD, 5 of them are operated by Baozun. So this means how we helped JD to push that forward.

Speaker 1

But having said that, overall size in terms of the apparel and sports category on JD is small is still very small compared with Tmall, which represents a huge opportunity for Bozun to further succeed in this platform. Now turning to Raff Lauren. So we also noticed the news about the high return and cancellation for Raff Lauren. We are very sorry to see that, but we are not in a position to comment. This is our brand business.

Speaker 1

But what I can share with you is how we help Ralph Lauren to smooth the negative impact in terms of the cancellation, because we operate the technology in terms of e commerce for Ralph Lauren. And during the Double 11 period, once there is a cancellation, our system can help the rough flooring business to put the product back onto the shelf within a very short period, sometimes only within a couple of minutes, which means even though there is a high cancellation rate, but the impact to the brand is very minimal. So as a result, the cancellation rate is very high, but the impact to the business is minimized to the rough flooring for Baozun, we have exceeded that target. So yes, and also the brand are happy with our service. In terms of the overall apparel, high return and cancellation is still an issue, even though we tried from an operation perspective to solve that problem, but still from this year's overall performance, we still see a high single digit increase in terms of the return and cancellation rate overall.

Speaker 1

I hope that answers your question.

Speaker 7

Thank you. That's very clear. And I want to ask a little one more question. We have seen that the output of BBG department is quite encouraging compared to our observation for brands in apparel industry. So, can management share more about the top line trends as well?

Speaker 7

Thank you.

Speaker 3

For BBVM,

Speaker 5

I think first is big portion is still gap, but also Hunter also performing very well on Q3. And for Gap, as I explained before, because our online growth in Q3 is very encouraging, especially our performance on Douyin's Super brand show, as well as our product and commercial strategy. Such like what you asked the question about JD, when a brand are facing the different platform strategies, this requires the brand to have a more flexible product strategy and also commercial strategy to be more faster responsive to the platform. And this flexibility in Baozun BBM help us to increase our online sales higher than our expectations. And for offline, although the overall traffic is not fully recovered, but quarter to quarter is improving.

Speaker 5

And with our expansion into the new Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities and the new stores performance, especially the sales per square meters also help us to increase our sales performance. I hope this answer your questions. Thank you.

Speaker 7

Very clear. Thank you.

Operator

The next question comes from Jack Ho with Hoi Tai Securities. Please go ahead.

Speaker 8

Hi. Thanks management for taking my questions. Congratulate on the solid results. And I have two questions for you. The first one is about with this year Double 11 promotion, maybe we saw a slightly warming consumption sentiment versus Q3.

Speaker 8

We all know Baozun operates many brands and many categories. So how does Baozun expect the consumption trend and opportunities in the next year? And I have a follow-up on our outlook for next year as well. As we're approaching the end of this year? Could management share some color on our outlook for next year, maybe on top line and the margin?

Speaker 8

Thank you very much.

Speaker 1

Okay. Thank you. I will take the first question. For the second one, maybe Vincent and Catherine can add on in terms of outlook for Baozun. So the first one, in terms of outlook for consumption, we think for next year the overall consumption will further stabilize.

Speaker 1

So after the up and down during the COVID period, a lot of the brands has chose to be cautious on the China market. From a Baozun perspective, we have seen the brand wants to spend more money in terms of building the internal capability, which we will put more emphasis on helping them to do so. And from our own perspective, we will focus more on service quality and innovation as a key to maintain our stronghold in terms of apparel, luxury and sports. At the same time, we will use our capability in those core categories to expand into other new categories, which to drive the growth. So this is from a Baozun perspective.

Speaker 1

Vincent, Katherine, do you want to comment on the outlook?

Speaker 2

Sure.

Speaker 3

Sure. Yes, the second one, yes. Looking forward, we think 2 things. Number 1 is that we are seeing that more and more policies and initiatives from the government. We think this will better the economy in general.

Speaker 3

So, we have a reason to be a little more optimistic for next year. And also, I think, most importantly, our focus will be optimizing our operations to make our own business better. This is even more important than the others. So, I think next year for us, all the aspects of the business operations, we will look into the potential seriously and make that to be realized more in 2095. Thank you.

Speaker 8

Very helpful. Thank you.

Operator

This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to the company for any closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Thank you, operator. On behalf of Baozun management team, we'd like to thank you all for your participation in today's call. If you require any further information, feel free to reach out to us. Thank you for joining us today. This concludes the call.

Operator

The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

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