Baozun (BZUN) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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Date
March 25, 2026, 7:30 a.m. ET
Call participants
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Chairman and Chief Executive Officer — Wenbin Qiu
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Chief Financial Officer — Catherine Yanjie Zhu
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President of E-Commerce — Junhua Wu
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President of Brand Management — Ken Huang
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Director of Investor Relations — Wendy Sun
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Full Conference Call Transcript
Ms. Qiu will first share our business strategy and company highlights. Ms. Zhu then will discuss our financial outlook, followed by Ms. Wu and Ms. Huang -- Mr. Wu and Mr. Huang, who will share more about our e-commerce and brand management segment, respectively. They will all be available to answer your questions during the Q&A session that follows.
Before we begin, I would like to remind you that this conference call contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 as amended, the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended and the U.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 relate to events that involve unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, 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. 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 of the date hereof and is based upon 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 statements, except as required under 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 nongeneral accepted accounting principle on non-GAAP in order to reduce overall confusion that may arise from our discussion of our financials related to the GAAP brand.
You may now turn to Slide 2 for the executive highlights for the quarter. It is now my pleasure to introduce our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Vincent Qiu. Vincent, please go ahead.
Wenbin Qiu: Thank you, Wendy. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I'm pleased that Baozun delivered a strong fourth quarter closing 2025 on a high note and successfully completing our 3-year strategic transformation. Over the past 3 years, we have rebuilt our company with focus and intention driving consistent sequential momentum throughout 2025.
In the fourth quarter, our revenue increased 6% to RMB 3.2 billion while non-GAAP operating profit grew 91% to RMB 198 million. This was not just about short-term recovery. It was about fundamentally improving the quality and the potential of our business. BEC has become a sustainable cash engine. Through sharper execution and continued cost rigor, BECs are more agile and consistently profitable. We have moved from pursuing scale to focusing on value, prioritizing margin expansion and reliable cash generation. and most importantly, build alignment with BBM. BBM, meanwhile, has reached a defining inflection point. After 3 years of repositioning and localization, our brand management platform achieved its first quarterly breakeven in fourth quarter '25.
This milestone validates the sustainability of our model. Importantly, scale is beginning to translate into tangible operating leverage, marking the transition from a turnaround to profitable growth.
Our financial profile has strengthened alongside operational progress. Margins have expanded, profitability has improved meaningfully and our balance sheet remains solid. In addition, our operating cash flow more than tripled to RMB 420 million in 2025. These results validate that our business is not only growing. It is growing with better structure and healthier economics. In summary, 2025 marks the successful completion of the initial phase of our transformation. As we enter into 2026, our focus shifts decisively from rebuilding to scaling.
Our priority now is to amplify the progress to accelerate in the next 3 years. We will do this by expanding BEC's margin, building scale and operating leverage in BBM and deepening the strategic synergies between BEC and BBM. Our ambition is clear, to drive the group's non-GAAP operating profit growth to RMB 550 million by 2028. With a stronger organization, a proven strategy and a highly focused execution culture, we are entering this next phase with confidence and the momentum.
Now I will hand over the call to our team for a deeper dive in our financials and the business performance.
Catherine Yanjie Zhu: Thanks, Vincent, and hello, everyone. Now let me provide a more detailed overview of financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2025.
Please turn to Slide #3. While Group's total net revenues for the fourth quarter of 2025 increased by 6% year-over-year to RMB 3.2 billion. Of this total, e-commerce revenue grew by 2.5% in to RMB 2.6 billion, while Brand Management revenue rose by 24% to RMB 664 million.
Breaking down e-commerce revenue by business model. Services revenue increased 3.1% year-over-year to RMB 2 billion. This increase was driven by revenue growth in digital marketing and IT solutions as well as strong performance in the luxury category within our online store operation services. BEC product sales revenue increased modestly by 0.5% year-over-year to RMB 574.5 million mainly driven by growth in Health and Nutrition category, which was partially offset by lower sales in appliance category as we continue to optimize category mix to prioritize profitability. BBM product sales totaled RMB 663.7 million, representing a 24% year-over-year growth. This growth was mainly driven by the strong performance of the GAAP.
Please turn to Slide #4. From a profitability perspective, our blended gross margin for product sales at the group level was 36.5%, an expansion of 640 basis points year-over-year. Gross profit increased by 35.9% year-over-year to RMB 451.5 million for the quarter.
Breaking this down by our key business lines. Gross margin for e-commerce product sales expanded to 18.4%, reflecting a 760 basis point improvement compared to 10.8% a year ago. This margin expansion was primarily driven by product mix optimization. Gross margin for BBM improved to 52.1% from 50.4% a year ago, reflecting the adaptiveness of its merchandising and marketing initiatives.
Now please turn to Slide #5 for a walk-through of our OpEx. Sales and marketing expenses increased by RMB 181 million to RMB 1.2 billion. This included an increase of RMB 136.9 million for BEC which was mainly due to higher spending on creative content and market initiatives onto, in line with the growth in digital marketing revenue. BBM sales and marketing expenses increased by RMB 49.6 million, which was mainly driven by the expansion of offline stores and marketing activities during the quarter. Fulfillment costs for the quarter was reduced by 11.1% to RMB 683.4 million, reflecting ongoing efforts in cost optimization.
Technology and content expenses decreased by 20.2% to RMB 116.9 million as we continue to enhance tech monetization efficiency. G&A expenses decreased slightly by 2% to RMB 187.9 million due to the company's continued efforts to implement cost control and efficiency improvement initiatives.
Turning to bottom line items, please refer to Slide #6. During the quarter, our non-GAAP income from operations was RMB 197.7 million, an increase of 91.4% from RMB 103.3 million in the same period of last year. BEC's adjusted non-GAAP income from operations was RMB 195.9 million, representing 43% year-over-year increase compared with a year ago.
BBM reported a non-GAAP operating income of RMB 1.8 million, a solid milestone as we achieved a very first breakeven quarter for the segment.
Let us turn to a quick full year summary. The group's total revenue was RMB 9.9 billion, an increase of 6% year-over-year, of which e-commerce net revenues were RMB 8.3 billion, an increase of 2% year-over-year. BBM net revenues were RMB 1.8 billion, an increase of 25% year-over-year. Our adjusted operating income totaled RMB 126 million, a significant improvement compared with RMB 11 million in fiscal year 2024.
As of December 31, 2025, our cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments totaled RMB 2.8 billion. We continue to improve working capital efficiency through back-end process optimization across inventory management, billing and cash collection. As a result, our adding operating cash flow reached RMB 420 million, representing a 315% year-over-year increase. Let me also briefly address our GAAP item recorded during the quarter. We recognized an investment impairment loss of RMB 230 million primarily related to preinvestments in the e-commerce sector as well as impairment provisions for certain equity investments. While these investments have at the time, today's macroeconomic environment, combined with our sharpened focus on developing our brand management business, make it prudent to recognize this impairment.
These adjustments reflect our commitment to maintaining a focus and resilience business portfolio. Importantly, our remaining investment will be healthy, and we are confident in their long-term potential.
Let me now pass the call over to Junhua to update you on BEC, our ecommerce business.
Junhua Wu: Thank you, Catherine, and hello, everyone. I'm pleased to share we've closed 2025 with significant momentum. In the fourth quarter, we delivered 2% revenue growth and a 43% increase in non-GAAP operating profit, capping a year of progression from stabilization to accelerate performance. Throughout the year, we focus on driving sustainable, profitable growth while making strategic investments in high opportunity areas.
Now let me quickly walk through some of our operational highlights in the e-commerce segment for the first quarter of 2025.
Please turn to Slide #7, highlighting the continued quality improvement of our distribution model. During the quarter, BEC product sales gross profit increased 70.9% despite a largely flat top line. Notably, BEC's gross margin rose to 18.4%, setting a new record since our inception. This improvement was mainly driven by ongoing optimization of our category mix with strong growth from health and nutrition and beauty and cosmetics categories. In addition, our efforts to expand into nonstandard categories and are beginning to show results. Apparel delivered a strong contribution across sales, gross margin and profitability during the quarter. .
Turning to Slide #8. Our services revenue grew 3% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, led primarily by strong performance of BBM and IT solutions, which includes 19%. We gained market share in key categories such as luxury, sports and outdoor. Our omnichannel capability remains one of the Baozun's core advantages and a focus of developing on going forward. During the quarter, we received 41 awards in Tmall ecosystem, including the Prestigious 2025 Tmall Ecosystem in Service Award. Douyin we were once again certified as a Douyin e-commerce diamond service partner, the platform's highest tier of accredition. Together, these recognitions affirm our sustained leadership and execution strength across major platforms.
We also continue to focus on strengthening our bottom line. Across the organization, we are implementing a series of lean initiatives designed to streamline processes, reduce costs and enhance efficiency. Furthermore, we are expanding the use of artificial intelligence tools across a wide range of employees and business scenarios to enhance productivity. These efforts have significantly improved our profitability. With BEC's non-GAAP operating income increased 43% year-over-year to RMB 196 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. Overall, we are pleased with our performance in the final quarter of the strategic transformation, a period that certified our shift towards the sustainable and profitable operations.
Moving forward, we will continue to deepen client engagement and stickiness, innovate our service models and enhance operational efficiency.
For 2026, our priorities are clear. Deliver the numbers, deliver the strategy and deliver the talent. Delivering the numbers means maintaining our focus on profitable growth and ensuring that our operational progress continues to translate into strong financial performance.
On strategy, we are advancing 3 key initiatives. First, we will expand our apparel distribution business leveraging the synergy between BEC and BBM to unlock the new growth opportunities and strengthen our brand ecosystem. Second, we will further enhance our digital marketing and the traffic acquisition capabilities. helping brands partners capture demand more efficiently across an increasingly complex omnichannel landscape. Third, we will deepen technology empowerment, accelerating the deployment of AI and digital tools to improve operational efficiency and elevate our service capabilities. Finally, delivering the talent remains essential.
We will continue strengthening our leadership bench and reinforcing a strong execution culture with the right people and the capabilities in place. we are well positioned to scale the business and deliver sustainable growth in the years ahead.
Now I'll pass to Ken for an update on BBM.
Ken Huang: Thank you, team, and hello, everyone. Please turn to Slide #9 for BBM's performance in the fourth quarter of 2025. .
The fourth quarter marks a defining milestone for BBM as we delivered our first breakeven quarter. This result reflects our structural improvements across merchandising, marketing, store productivity and networking expansion.
In Q4, BBM revenue grew by 24% year-over-year to RMB 664 million, supported by a double-digit same-store sales growth and the continued contributions from new store openings. Gross margin improved by 170 basis points from a year ago to 52.1%, leading to a 28% increase in gross profit. Moreover, inventory turnover efficiency improved, reducing our inventory turnover days by 16% to 114 days. Merchandising was the core growth driver for the quarter. We entered the winter season with a balanced assortment architecture, reinforcing Gap's iconic categories, sweatshirts, denim and denim wear while sharpening segmentation across channels and consumer groups. Our partnership with the Forbidden City has maintained a strong sell-through in Q4.
More recently, we launched a new IP collaboration with packing Oprah, showing case our ability to blend the Chinese