Looking back at 2023, the apparel industry as a whole showed remarkable resilience. However, the performance of listed apparel companies is still mixed. Dozens of companies are now losing money, and more and more are seeking business breakthroughs.” An urban beauty who “turned against the wind” was one of the best observation samples.

Since the launch of “Second Entrepreneurship” at the end of 2021, the Urban Beauty Strategy Reform has borne fruit, and the layout has been rolled out rapidly.

Financial reports show that in 2023, Urban Beauty achieved “profitable growth”, and its profitability continued to increase, with a total revenue of 2.76 billion yuan;Net profit to mother was 42.483 million yuan, up 28.6% year on year; gross margin was 47.5%, up about 1% year on year.

In addition, the financial quality of Urban Beauty has once again improved. For example, inventory levels were optimized, and inventory in 2021 and before decreased by 300 million yuan compared to the beginning of the period; the cash flow situation improved, and the net cash inflow from operating activities was about 383 million yuan, a significant increase from 231 million yuan last year.

Looking at the specific layout, Urban Beauty continues to break through channels and form strategic alliances in terms of products, brands, etc.

Channel: Increased scale and efficiency

In 2023, in the year of starting the “100 Cities and a Thousand Stores” campaign,Urban Beauty has joined or co-operated more than 800 new stores, an increase of more than 70% over the previous year, and the number of stores nationwide has exceeded 4,300.

Based on this, Urban Beauty enhances store efficiency through a multi-faceted layout.

First, Urban Beauty continues to strengthen the integrated development of online and offline, empowering stores with an “interactive experience model”. Examples include improving in-store services based on member operations; arranging mini-programs, Meituan flash shopping, JD Home, Douyin, and video accounts to meet the demand for out-of-store shopping and divert customers to the store. In 2023, Urban Beauty Store added 1.9 million new members; more than 2,500 stores were launched on the Meituan platform, and more than 2,000 stores were launched on JD Home.Sales increased 217% and 81% month-on-month, respectively, in the past 3 months after the launch of the two major platforms.

Second, Urban Beauty improves overall store efficiency through refined management. For example, continuously optimize channel classification standards, and use stores as store labels according to market level, channel type, business district type, and store type to lay a better foundation for product and marketing matching.

Third, Urban Beauty optimizes the shopping experience through store upgrades and accumulates users' mentality. For example, make new standards in terms of color matching, font application, image display, etc., establish a more accurate and clear communication system, and upgrade the fitting room layout and scene functions.

It is also worth noting that in 2024, the target number of new stores will be opened by Urban Beauty will be 1,000, and the target number of new directly managed stores will be about 100.At the spring investment fair, Urban Beauty successfully signed up to 706 new stores, and has already fixed most of the target tasks.It is expected to accelerate the expansion of scale.

Product: Match the trend of high quality and price ratio

In 2023, consumer attitudes changed markedly, and the high quality-price ratio became a mainstream consumer trend, and a powerful tool to embrace the sinking market. Urban Beauty insists on the development and innovation of cost-effective materials, etc., and continues to create high-quality and cost-effective popular products to meet consumer needs and meet the expansion of the sinking market.

Specifically, Urban Beauty has launched a series of popular products such as the Soft Core Family, Soft Puffs, Face Shaping C, Peach Cups, Carved Thin Cups, Little Flower Heart, High Elastic Pants, Tea Comfort Pants, and Dust-free Cotton.Among them, Shaping C uses a patented cup type, and the cumulative order volume exceeds 1.8 million; the polythin cup uses a side push and push structure, etc., and the cumulative order volume exceeds 800,000.

In March of this year, Urban Beauty also launched soft-sized invisible underwear, changing the original underwear structure, making underwear both comfortable, snug, stylish, and seamless, and opening a new era of high-quality underwear.

Furthermore, at the supply chain level, Urban Beauty collaborates with material suppliers and others to develop fabrics and create explosive products; optimizes the supplier matrix to develop cost-effective suppliers; continues to implement centralized procurement and time-selective procurement to drive a reasonable increase in product gross profit; optimizes futures delivery plans and upgrades B2B subscription platform functions, thereby improving the quality/price ratio of products and empowering franchisees.

Brand: Professional resources consolidate positioning

With the rise of high quality and cost ratio consumption, the brand advantages of Urban Beauty have been further highlighted. At the same time, urban beauties use professional resources as a starting point to continue to consolidate the position of “good but not expensive” national underwear.

For example, Urban Beauty and Yibang Think Tank, Promostyl, and the Underwear Professional Committee of the China Textile Business Association jointly released the “2023 Women's Underwear Industry Consumer Trend Research Report” to voice demand for underwear and guide the development direction of underwear brands.

Meanwhile, in February of this year, Urban Beauty helped China's National Figure Swimming Team compete in the Doha World Championships; in March of this year, Urban Beauty announced that it has officially become a partner of the China National Figure Swimming Team.

For urban beauties, these brand resources are scarce and collaborative, enabling them to establish a professional, high-quality and cost-effective brand image at the consumer level, and further enhance the awareness of industry leaders and national underwear brands.

epilogue

In summary, this financial report clearly shows the results and potential of Urban Beauty's strategic reforms, the worst of which may have passed. As Urban Beauty continues to verify its performance and strongly prove its intrinsic value to the market, it is expected that value will eventually return.