Retail channels

On May 3, Sephora Taiwan's official website issued a notice that it will stop the operation of Taiwan's official website and app at midnight on May 11, 2023. Sephora's official website points out that orders can still be placed through the Sephora APP or official website before 23:59 on May 10, 2023, and orders before the cessation of operations will still be shipped normally. It is reported that Sephora's official website Taiwan was launched on October 22, 2021.

On May 16, MINISO Group Holdings Limited (009896. HK； MNSO. US, hereinafter referred to as "MINISO") announced its results for the third quarter of fiscal 2023. According to the financial report, as of March 31, 2023, the company achieved revenue of 2.954 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.2% and a month-on-month increase of 18.4%; Gross profit was RMB1.162 billion, up 64.4% year-on-year and 16.5% month-on-month; Gross margin was 39.3%, up 9.1% from the same period last year and down 0.7% from the prior quarter.

In the quarter, MINISO achieved an operating profit of 576 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 308.5% and a month-on-month increase of 28.7%; Achieved a profit of 471 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 408.2% and a month-on-month increase of 30.9%; Adjusted net profit was RMB483 million, up 336.3% year-on-year and 29.5% sequentially; Adjusted net profit margin increased by 11.7% from the same period last year to 16.4%.

Recently, SASA International released a positive profit forecast, expecting that the net profit attributable to the company's owners for the year ended March 31, 2023 will record about HK$50 million to HK$70 million, a significant improvement from the loss of HK$344 million in the previous financial year, mainly due to the improvement of the retail environment in the second half of the financial year and the gradual implementation of the cost structure optimization strategy.

Ulta Beauty net sales increased 12.3% to $2.6 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2023, compared to $2.3 billion in the year-ago quarter. This is roughly in line with analysts' forecast of $2.62 billion. Comparable sales, including store and e-commerce sales that were at least 14 months open, increased 9.3%, compared to an 18% increase in the first quarter of fiscal 2022.

On May 30, European high-end beauty retailer Douglas released its financial results for the second quarter of the 2022/2023 fiscal year (January 1, 2023 - March 31, 2023).

According to the financial report, during the reporting period, Douglas' adjusted net sales were 859 million euros (about 6.518 billion yuan), an increase of 19.3% year-on-year; gross profit was 391 million euros (approximately 2.969 billion yuan), an increase of 23.3% year-on-year; Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 127 million (approximately RMB 964 million), an increase of 32.9% year-on-year.

News on June 1, Grace, a well-known beauty retailer in South Korea, received $5 million in Series B financing, led by private equity firm SKS Capital.

Grace is the largest supplier to Korean beauty retailer Olive Young, supplying online channels and more than 50,000 offline points of sale in Korea. Grace exports Korean beauty brands to more than 60 countries around the world through B2B and D2C channels.

Authoritative release

On May 4, the Central Inspection Institute issued the "Technical Guidelines for Filling in Safety Information of Cosmetic Raw Materials (Draft for Comments)", the text of the draft has a total of 11 parts, respectively, focusing on the basic information of raw materials, brief description of production process, quality control requirements, risk substance limit requirements, etc., the technical points and technical principles that need to be considered in the process of filling in raw material safety information are summarized, and the public consultation period ends on May 20.

Brands and industries

On the evening of April 26, Yixian E-commerce released its 2022 annual performance report. According to the announcement, the company achieved revenue of 3.71 billion yuan in 2022, the gross profit margin for the whole year increased by 1.2 percentage points year-on-year to 68.0%, the non-GAAP net loss narrowed by 53.8% year-on-year, and achieved its first non-GAAP profit after listing in Q4. The Company's cash flow was positive for the third consecutive quarter, with cash, restricted cash and short-term investments of $2.63 billion as of December 31, 2022.

In 2022, the skin care business achieved revenue of 1.24 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 45.2%, and the proportion of total revenue increased to 33.5%; Its three mid-to-high-end skin care brands increased their net revenue by 99% year-on-year in 2022.

Recently, Beauty Beauty disclosed its first quarter 2023 performance report. During the reporting period, Beauty Beauty achieved an operating income of 614 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 14.08%. net profit attributable to the parent - 24.2903 million yuan, down 291.33% from the same period last year; According to the financial report, the main reasons for the decline in net profit attributable to the parent were the decline in operating income, the decline in gross margin and the increase in the company's impairment provision in the current period. During the reporting period, Beauty Beauty continued to explore a sustainable model of new platform business, with the revenue of emerging channels represented by Tiktok increasing by more than 80% year-on-year, and non-Tmall channel revenue accounting for more than 20% for the first time, with remarkable results in multi-channel expansion.

On the evening of April 28,Ruoyuchen (003010. SZ) announced its full-year 2022 and first-quarter 2023 financial results. In 2022, the company achieved an operating income of 1.217 billion yuan, and a net profit of 31.781 million yuan after deducting non-recurring profits and losses, an increase of 64.73% over the same period of the previous year. It is worth mentioning that the annual revenue of its own brand exceeded 160 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 117.53%, accounting for 13.22% of the company's revenue, becoming the company's second growth curve. The company's annual net cash flow from operating activities was 227 million yuan, a significant increase of 342.43% year-on-year. In the midst of market changes and uncertainties brought about by the operating environment, Ruoyuchen achieved multiple increases in net profit, cash flow and its own brand.

On May 4, the Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong released retail sales data, showing that the provisional estimate of the total sales value of retail trade in March 2023 was $33.6 billion, up 40.9% year-on-year, and the provisional estimate of total sales value in the first quarter of 2023 increased by 24.1% compared to the same period in 2022.

According to the data, in terms of overall sales, online sales accounted for 7.6% of Hong Kong's retail sales in March 2023, down 8.6% from the same period in 2022.

Recently, Lafang Jahwa Co., Ltd. released its first quarter report for 2023.

According to the report, in the first quarter ended March 31, 2023, Lafang Jahwa's operating income was 194 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 3.30%; The net profit attributable to the shareholders of the listed company was 36.3843 million yuan, and the net profit attributable to the shareholders of the listed company, net of non-recurring profits and losses, was 35.0384 million yuan.

In the 12 months to the end of March, L'Occitane Group sales rose 13.4% year-on-year to €2,135 million, surpassing the €2 billion mark, driven by strong revenue growth of 20.6% in the fourth quarter.

The group said that the increase in last year's performance was mainly driven by the excellent performance of Sol de Janeiro and the solid growth of ELEMIS.

Recently, private equity firm Anchor Equity Partners plans to sell South Korean small and medium-sized makeup brand DERMAFIRM, which is expected to sell for about 200 billion won (about 1.042 billion yuan).

Recently, Revlon announced that it has completed the financial restructuring process and officially exited the bankruptcy process, and the newly restructured company is called Revlon Group Holdings LLC.

On May 4, Latin American hair care brand Ceremonia raised $10 million in a series A funding led by Sandbridge Capital.

On April 28, Colgate-Palm announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2023.

According to the earnings report, Colgate's first-quarter net sales increased 8.5% year-over-year to $4.77 billion. Net income attributable to the Company was $372 million, compared to $559 million in the year-ago quarter. Operating income was $909 million, compared to $860 million in the year-ago quarter.

Colgate said it is still in a leading position in the toothpaste industry, with a global market share of 40.2%; The manual toothbrush segment has a global market share of 30.6% to date.

On April 27, German flavor and fragrance manufacturer Symrise announced financial data for the first quarter of 2023, and its operating income from January to March increased by 12.8% in reported currency to 1.23 billion euros (about 9.417 billion yuan).

Among them, the cosmetics and perfume segment sales were 454 million euros (about 2.921 billion yuan), an increase of 8.3% year-on-year, and sales increased organically by 4.2%. Specifically, the luxury segment continued to show particularly strong momentum, benefiting from this and achieving double-digit growth. Increased demand for hygiene and cleaning products led to single-digit growth in fragrance sales.

On May 15, the IPO of Silga ChiNext was officially submitted for registration. This is also a new action after 9 months after its successful meeting, and it is one step closer to ringing the bell and going public.

On the evening of April 28, Ruoyuchen (003010. SZ) announced its full-year 2022 and first-quarter 2023 financial results. In 2022, the company achieved an operating income of 1.217 billion yuan, and a net profit of 31.781 million yuan after deducting non-recurring profits and losses, an increase of 64.73% over the same period of the previous year. It is worth mentioning that the annual revenue of its own brand exceeded 160 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 117.53%, accounting for 13.22% of the company's revenue, becoming the company's second growth curve. The company's annual net cash flow from operating activities was 227 million yuan, a significant increase of 342.43% year-on-year.

On May 16, Perfect Diary's parent company, Yixian E-commerce, announced its 2023Q1 financial results (as of March 31). During the reporting period, the total revenue of Yixian e-commerce was 770 million yuan, down 14.1% year-on-year, mainly due to the 29.1% decrease in the revenue of color cosmetics brands in 2023Q1 compared with the same period last year.

Gross profit was $570 million, down 7.5% year-over-year, and gross margin increased 5.3 percentage points to 74.3%. The increase in gross margin was partly due to the increase in revenue from high-margin skincare brands.

The 2023Q1 revenue of Yixian E-commerce's skincare brand reached 250 million yuan, an increase of 34.2%, and the proportion of revenue increased from 20.5% to 32.0%.

Shiseido recently announced its mid-term strategy "SHIFT 2025 and Beyond", which plans to further improve profitability by increasing investment in key areas such as branding, innovation and talent, as well as transforming the cost structure, aiming to achieve a core operating margin of 12% by 2025 and a core operating margin of 15% by 2027.

On May 17, Anhui Qijia Rihua Co., Ltd. issued a risk warning announcement on the progress of the possible termination of stock listing and suspension.

On May 16, American skincare brand "Skin Pharm" announced that it has received $15 million in financing, exclusively invested by Prelude Growth Partners, and this round of financing will be used for product research and development and offline clinic expansion.

News on May 16, the third ecological conference of Tiktok e-commerce was held in Guangzhou today. At the meeting, Wei Wenwen, president of  Tiktok e-commerce, disclosed that the GMV of the platform has increased by more than 80% in the past year. Among them, the GMV of the mall increased by 277% year-on-year, the GMV of e-commerce search increased by 159% year-on-year, and the GMV of the shelf scene accounted for more than 30% of the GMV of the platform. At present, 56% of merchants in the Tiktok e-commerce ecosystem account for more than 50% of the GMV of the shelf scene. Wei Wenwen introduced that in April this year, the incremental consumption of live broadcast users in the shelf increased by 356 yuan.

On May 16, the National Bureau of Statistics released retail sales data of consumer goods for April 2023. In April, the total retail sales of consumer goods were 3.491 billion yuan, an increase of 18.4% year-on-year, and from January to April, the total retail sales of consumer goods 149833 billion yuan, an increase of 8.5% year-on-year.  

News on May 15, according to Estée Lauder's latest quarterly balance sheet, in the third quarter of fiscal year 2023 ended March 31, the group's total assets were $22.715 billion, of which current assets were $11.247 billion, including $5.531 billion in cash and cash equivalents, total liabilities were $16.019 billion, and total financial debt was $73.71, including spot debt of $2.243 billion and long-term debt of $5.128 billion.

Recently, Avon's parent company, Brazilian beauty giant Natura & Co, released its financial report for the first quarter of 2023. According to the report, the net income of Q1Natura & Co in Q1 2023 was 8.021 billion reais (about 11.093 billion yuan), down 2.8% year-on-year; Gross profit was R$5.428 billion (approximately RMB7.507 billion), up 2.8% year-on-year; Adjusted EBITDA was R$842 million (RMB1,164 million), up 41.3% year-on-year. Net loss attributable to controlling shareholders was R$652 million (approximately RMB 902 million), an increase of 1.4%.

Recently, DTC perm hair repair brand Olaplex released its first quarter 2023 financial report. First-quarter net sales fell 38.9% year-over-year, and the company's shares closed down more than 7%. Sales declined across the board in the three main sales channels, with net sales in the U.S. down 60.3% and international sales flat.

On May 9, German chemical company Evonik released its financial report for the first quarter of 2023. Its first-quarter sales were 4 billion euros (about 30.4 billion yuan), down 11% year-on-year and down 14% in sales.

 According to the financial report, the Nutrition & Consumer Chemicals division saw a significant decrease in sales in the first quarter, resulting in a 15 percent decline in sales to 886 million euros.

Recently, Coty Group raised its annual forecast again, expecting adjusted earnings per share of 38 cents to 39 cents in 2023, up from 35 cents to 36 cents previously.

A few days ago, Marumi announced its first quarter 2023 performance report.

According to the financial report, the operating income of Marumi Co., Ltd. in the first quarter rose 2.5% year-on-year to 477 million yuan, the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 78.6698 million yuan, up 20.15% year-on-year, and the net profit excluding non-recurring profits and losses also recorded an increase of more than 29% to 74.0687 million yuan.

A few days ago, Hermès announced that its financial data for the first quarter of 2023 showed that revenue increased by 22% year-on-year to 3.38 billion euros, far exceeding analysts' previous expectations of 15%.

During the reporting period, all regions and business lines achieved positive growth.

Among them, sales in the Leather Goods & Horse Goods segment increased by 18.5% year-on-year to EUR 1.41 billion, mainly driven by classic handbags such as Kelly, Ready-to-wear & Accessories increased by 34% to EUR 950 million, Watches sales increased by 25% to EUR 166 million, Silk & Textiles sales increased by 20% to EUR 234 million, and Perfume & Beauty sales increased by 6% to EUR 126 million.

On May 4, the Spanish economic newspaper Expansión exclusively disclosed that the Spanish fashion, perfume and cosmetics group Puig is restructuring its corporate structure and consolidating all its businesses under the Public Limited Company (PLC) Puig Brands SA. This restructuring means that Puig may conduct an initial public offering (IPO) in the future.

On May 22, Proya Cosmetics Co., Ltd. announced the operation data of major brands in April 2023. According to the announcement, in April 2023, the sales momentum of each brand of Proya Cosmetics Co., Ltd. was good and achieved stable growth.

After preliminary calculations, in April 2023, the transaction amount of the flagship store of the main brand Proya Tmall was about 228 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 57%; The GMV of the Douyin platform was about 135 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 40%. The GMV of the flagship store of Caitang brand Tmall was about 45 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 95%; The GMV of the Douyin platform was about 29 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 69%.

On May 25, Chane announced its fiscal year 2022 results, with sales last year up 17% year-on-year to US$17.2 billion in constant currency, a record high, operating profit up 5.8% to US$5.8 billion, and after-tax profit up 14.2% to US$4.6 billion.

Recently, Nirvana Brands, a British perfume brand management company, announced the acquisition of Lovely Distribution Company and its fragrance business, including the eponymous perfume line launched by American drama "Sex and the City" actor Sarah Jessica Parker.

On May 22, Neo (NASDAQ:SY) announced its unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023, showing total revenue of RMB310.1 million (US$45.2 million), up 3.2% from RMB303.0 million in the same period in 2022, beating expectations high; Net loss attributable to shareholders was RMB11.9 million (US$1.7 million), a year-on-year decrease of 82%, compared to a net loss attributable to shareholders of RMB66.8 million in the first quarter of 2022; Non-GAAP net loss was RMB2.8 million (US$0.4 million), compared to a non-GAAP net loss of RMB48.3 million in the same period in 2022, down 94.3% year-on-year.

On May 22, the total value of Shanghai's imports and exports in the first four months of this year was 1.39 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.5%, 7.6 percentage points higher than that of the whole country. Among them, exports were 558.65 billion yuan, an increase of 16.3%; Imports were 834.57 billion yuan, an increase of 11.6%.

According to Bloomberg, IFF (International Flavors & Fragrances Inc.), the world's leading international flavor and fragrance company, is considering selling its Lucas Meyer Cosmetics unit.

On May 24, Star Plus Legend Holdings Limited from Kunshan, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, disclosed its post-hearing prospectus on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, or will soon be listed in Hong Kong. Superstar Legend has previously submitted the form four times on September 30, 2021, March 31, 2022, October 5, 2022, and April 11, 2023.

News on May 26, Giorgio Armani Group in the 12 months ended December 31 last year, revenue increased by 16.5% year-on-year to 2.35 billion euros, EBIT increased by 30% year-on-year to 202.5 million euros.

During the reporting period, the Group achieved significant growth across all sales channels, including 17% growth in direct retail channels, 16% growth in wholesale channels and 9% growth in e-commerce channels. By geography, Europe and the Americas saw the return of travel as the most prominent markets, with revenue up 24% and 19.5%, respectively, while revenue in Asia declined 6.3%.

E.L.F. Beauty posted its 17th straight quarter of growth, with net sales up 78% to $187.4 million in the three months ended March 31, beating analysts' expectations of $176 million. Net income was $16.2 million, compared to $1.6 million in the year-ago quarter.

E-commerce platforms

News on May 11, according to the WeChat official public account "WeChat Pai" news, the commodity card of the video number small store can be inserted into the WeChat public account, and the public account helps sell the things of the video number small store, and it is easier to monetize.

On May 9, Kuaishou E-commerce announced at the Gravity Conference that it would upgrade the "River Plan", which will allocate at least 60 billion traffic throughout the year to encourage merchants and influencers to collaborate.  

According to official data, the GMV increase brought by the Q1 plan to the participating operators will exceed 15% in 2023, and it is expected that this figure will reach 20% in Q2.

Recently, it was reported that Alibaba International Digital Business Group is considering an IPO in the United States. In response, Ali International Digital Business Group responded to the media: "There is no listing plan. ”

On May 22, Kuaishou Technology (01024. HK, "Kuaishou") released its financial results for the first quarter of 2023. In the quarter, Kuaishou's total revenue increased by 19.7% year-on-year to RMB25.22 billion, adjusted net profit reached RMB42 million, turning losses into profits year-on-year, achieving overall profitability at the group level after listing for the first time, operating loss of RMB698 million, operating profit margin of negative 2.8%, and operating loss of RMB5.6 billion and operating profit margin of negative 26.8% in the same period of 2022.

A few days ago, Vipshop released the first quarter of this year's financial report data, GMV rose 14% year-on-year to 48.5 billion yuan, revenue increased 9% to 27.5 billion yuan, the growth rate exceeded the market average. As a membership-based shopping platform, Vipshop's super VIP active users increased by 15% year-on-year, and the online consumption contributed by these VIP users accounted for 42%, and the total number of active users reached 43.8 million, an increase of 4% year-on-year.

On May 23, JD Cloud announced that its entire core products have opened a network-wide price comparison, promising to "buy expensive and pay", the official website list prices of all its core products are lower than the price of the target product list on the official website of a specific cloud vendor, and the actual transaction unit price will be discounted by nine times on the basis of the lowest unit price actually traded by a specific cloud vendor.

On May 20, JD.com launched Apple's self-operated hourly purchase, and from now on, when consumers buy iPhones in Apple's self-operated flagship store of Jingdong, they can choose the delivery method of intra-city delivery, and they can get the new machine in as soon as 1 hour. At present, JD.com's self-operated hourly shopping has been launched in more than 150 cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou, and more cities are also accelerating coverage.

Recently, Alibaba released its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of fiscal 2023 ended March 31, 2023.

Among them, while the total merchandise value of Taobao and Tmall continued to decline by a mid-single-digit percentage in the fourth quarter, it began to resume growth in March, driven by strong performance in the fashion, accessories and healthcare categories, with revenue up 2% year-on-year at RMB208.2 billion, below analysts' expectations; Net profit was RMB21,996 million, compared to a net loss of RMB18,357 million in the same period last year.

Full-year revenue increased 2% year-on-year to RMB868.68 billion; Operating income was RMB100.35 billion, a year-on-year increase of 44%.

International conglomerates

On May 3, The Estée Lauder Corporation released its fiscal 2023 third quarter financial results.

In the fiscal third quarter ended March 31, Estée Lauder Corporation's revenue plunged 11.7% year-over-year to $3.75 billion, and organic sales fell 8%, but above analysts' average expectations of $3.7 billion.

By business, the skincare division plunged 20% to US$1.92 billion, color cosmetics revenue fell 2% to US$1.09 billion, and fragrance and hair care both recorded 1% growth.

According to news, Kenvue, Johnson & Johnson's consumer health business, will be officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange on the evening of May 4, Beijing time, under the ticker symbol "KVUE".

Kenvue plans to issue 151.2 million shares of its common stock in the IPO, ranging from $20 to $23 per share. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas and other top international investment banks participated in the offering.

Recently, Unilever reported a 10.5% increase in underlying sales for the first quarter of 2023 to €14.8 billion.

Unilever said sales rose 7% year-on-year in the first quarter, driven by a combination of price and volume growth.

Sales of products in the Beauty and Health segment rose by 9.3 percent to EUR 3.1 billion. Due to the appeal of product efficacy to consumers, the Vaseline and Pond's brands achieved double-digit sales growth.

The luxury beauty and wellness segment of the division also saw double-digit growth, with sales collectively accounting for 5% of Unilever's turnover, and Unilever said Paula's Choice, Hourglass and Liquid I.V made a "significant" contribution to this growth.

Recently, Henkel released its Q1 2023 results. In the first quarter of 2023, Henkel increased Group sales to around EUR 500 million. Strong organic sales growth of 6.6 percent was driven by double-digit pricing, while volumes were below year-ago levels. In nominal terms, sales increased by

6.6 percent.

Recently, Shiseido released its financial report for the first quarter of fiscal 2023, according to which sales in the first quarter increased by 2.6% year-on-year to 240.009 billion yen (about 12.38 billion yuan), and operating profit rose 140.5% year-on-year to 10.525 billion yen (about 536 million yuan).

During the period, sales in the Japanese domestic market increased by 8% year-on-year to 61.676 billion yen (about 3.179 billion yuan); sales in the Chinese market decreased by 3% year-on-year to 53.2 billion yen (about 2.742 billion yuan), accounting for 22.2%, making Shiseido's second largest market in the world. The Americas market increased by 3.2% y/y to JPY 25,991 million (approximately CNY 1.34 billion), while the European market decreased by 2.5% y/y to JPY 27.8 billion (approximately CNY 1.431 billion). Looking ahead, the company expects sales in fiscal 2023 to fall 6.3% y/y to JPY 1 trillion (approximately 51.19 billion yuan).

 
Tax Free Dynamics

During the "May Day" holiday, the overall sales of Wangfujing Group increased by more than 50% over the same period of the previous year, the passenger flow increased by 72% year-on-year, and the three main business formats of department stores, shopping malls and outlets all achieved a significant increase in passenger flow and sales year-on-year.

Stores in Beijing continued to sell hot, with sales reaching 134% year-on-year; The popularity of outlet and shopping malls has increased significantly, with sales increasing by 93% and 50% year-on-year, respectively, and passenger flow increasing by more than 65%.

Duty-free business projects continued to make efforts during the holiday, with sales of Wangfujing International Duty-free Port increasing by 115% year-on-year, the daily average UV and DAU of Wangfujing Global Purchase cross-border e-commerce platforms increasing significantly, and the passenger flow of cross-border e-commerce experience stores increasing by 140% compared with the pre-holiday period.

In 2023, the stock price of China Duty Free fell for five consecutive months and showed an accelerated downward trend. In January, China Free fell 1.73%; In February and March, it fell by 6.93% and 7.26% respectively; In April and May, the monthly decline widened to 12.15% and 15.51% respectively.

In the past five months, the stock price of China Exempt has staged a trend of "no stopping, not stopping", and more than 200,000 investors have gradually despaired in the decline of this "warm water frog". As of May 17, China Exempt fell 37.06% during the year, with the largest decline exceeding 40%.