In addition to sunscreen, the new story that Jiaoxia thought of was to become the "first share of urban outdoor concept in China". Not long ago, a sunscreen brand that was listed in the shopping link by an Internet celebrity blogger is about to sprint for IPO.
According to Fashion Business Express, Jiaoxia, a domestic sunscreen clothing brand, recently submitted a prospectus on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, planning to be listed in Hong Kong, with CICC and Morgan Stanley serving as joint sponsors.
Jiaoxia’s first disclosed performance in the prospectus is quite dazzling. The prospectus shows that Jiaoxia’s revenue from 2019 to 2021 will be 380 million yuan, 790 million yuan, and 2.41 billion yuan, respectively, with a compound annual growth rate of 150.1%, and the revenue of more than 2.4 billion in 2021 will increase by 5 times compared with 2019. many.
According to CIC data, among emerging brands in China's footwear and apparel industry with annual retail sales exceeding RMB 1 billion, Jiaoxia ranks first in terms of retail sales in 2021, and the retail sales growth in 2021 is the fastest.
From 2019 to 2021, Jiaoxia’s gross profit will be 190 million yuan, 460 million yuan, and 1.42 billion yuan, respectively, with gross profit margins of 50.0%, 57.4%, and 59.1%, respectively. The adjusted net profit in 2021 will be 140 million yuan, with a compound growth rate of 162.6% in the past three years.
According to the IPO, Jiaoxia, as a new consumer brand, has less external financing in the 9 years since its establishment due to its strong profitability. It only received investment from Sequoia China in 2015 in the early days of its establishment, and made an IPO in 2015. In the early 2021 and 2022, Fengqiao Capital and Huaxing Capital were introduced successively.
Before the IPO, Sequoia China held 19.37% of Jiaoxia, Fengqiao Capital and Huaxing Capital held 6.96% and 1.54% respectively. Sequoia China partner Zheng Qingsheng and Fengqiao Capital founding partner Chang Xin served as Jiaoxia Non-Executive Director.
Behind the three-year growth from 400 million to 2.4 billion, Jiaoxia, which started out selling sunscreen umbrellas, has gradually become a comprehensive sunscreen brand that focuses on the needs of young women for sunscreen through category expansion.
In 2013, founders Ma Long and Lin Ze founded Jiaoxia in Hangzhou. The word Jiaoxia comes from "under the banana leaf", implying that the brand has focused on sun protection needs since its inception. In the same year, Jiaoxia launched its first sunscreen product, the double-layer black umbrella, which was sold in the Tmall flagship store. In 2016, Jiaoxia opened its first brand-operated store in Shanghai.
In 2017, Jiaoxia launched the capsule series umbrella, which is famous for its lightness. Since then, the two sunscreen umbrellas have become the representative products of the brand. The annual sales of the two sunscreen umbrellas have exceeded 30 million yuan, and the cumulative sales of classic sunscreen umbrellas have exceeded 4.5 million.
In 2019, Jiaoxia's products expanded to non-umbrella products such as sun protection clothing and masks, and in 2021, it further expanded to canvas shoes, Martin boots, thermal clothing and accessories.
So far, although the sunscreen umbrella is still the star product of Jiaoxia, the sales proportion is decreasing year by year, and it is no longer the absolute pillar of sales. According to the prospectus, umbrella sales accounted for 86.9% in 2019, nearly 90%. But in 2020 and 2021, 46.5% and 20.8% were recorded, which means that sunscreen umbrella sales now only account for one-fifth. The proportion of clothing sales will increase from 0.8% in 2019 to 29.5% in 2021.
It is worth noting that Jiaoxia is still expanding into non-sunscreen products. The revenue of non-sunscreen products increased significantly from 2.8 million in 2019 to 76.5 million in 2020, and further increased by more than five times to 496 million in 2021, and the revenue contribution rate increased from 0.7% in 2019 to 20.6 in 2021 %.
Behind the numbers, two games of chess played by Jiao can be vaguely seen.
The first game of chess under Jiao has been laid, that is, it has become a comprehensive sunscreen brand. Since 10 years ago, Jiaoxia has focused on sun protection needs, from sun protection umbrellas to sun protection clothing and sun protection accessories, and is committed to becoming China's largest sun protection clothing brand.
This goal has now been achieved. Jiaoxia cited CIC data to show that no matter in terms of total retail sales or online retail sales in 2021, Jiaoxia is China's largest sunscreen apparel brand, with market shares of 5% and 12.9% respectively. Especially in the online market, Jiaoxia’s annual online retail sales rank first among all sunscreen apparel brands in China, and will exceed 5 times that of the second largest brand in 2021.
Sunscreen has never been a new market. Asian consumers have a long-standing demand for whitening and sun protection, and sunscreen beauty and whitening skin care products have always been an important business for Asian beauty brands. Under the traditional aesthetic guidance of whitening, Asian consumers also have the habit of using sunscreen umbrellas for a long time. The well-known Paradise Umbrella has been established as early as 1985, covering umbrellas and sunscreen umbrellas with SPF, and its annual sales are as high as 2 billion.
A wide variety of other sunscreen products, such as "ice sleeves", "face kini", and UV sunscreen caps, have already penetrated deeply into Chinese consumers of all ages, as well as various wholesale markets and small stalls and hawkers, and it is not uncommon for them to exist. . In addition, according to media reports, as early as 17 years ago, Zhang Shifan, the founder of "Face Gini", had a whim when he communicated with "Qingdao aunts" who were bathing in the sea, and designed this unique swimming headgear, which is popular in the global fashion circle. set off a different trend.
In the Chinese market, the market perception of sunscreen demand and sunscreen products has become very mature after years of precipitation, but the gap in the market is also very obvious. Paradise Umbrella only focuses on umbrellas, and faces the risk of brand aging among today's young people. However, most other sunscreen products on the market lack sufficient scale of brand recognition, and the performance indicators of sunscreen products have not been sufficiently quantified and professionalized, nor have they been popularized. The uneven layers of the market have long associated sunscreen products with low prices, and the social media narrative of products such as "face kini" has implicitly established such products with aging.
Another obvious pain point is the long-term lack of trust building in the sunscreen clothing market. In June 2020, "Consumer Report" submitted 18 sunscreen clothing products to a third-party authoritative testing agency for inspection. The test items included UV protection performance, air permeability, moisture permeability, pH, formaldehyde, light and sweat composite color fastness, labeling and other indicators. However, more than 30% of the 18 products have UV protection that does not meet the standard requirements, and the effect is not as good as an ordinary T-shirt.
"Brand" means trust, and consumers need to rely on brands to reduce decision-making costs. There is a lack of brands in the sunscreen market, or brands with sufficient market recognition.
Therefore, unlike many current new consumer brands, what Jiaoxia does is not to develop new categories, but to develop selected items based on sun protection needs, and to upgrade the packaging of many existing categories in the market to achieve branding and rejuvenation. The second is to integrate categories, to integrate all sunscreen-related items, and to strengthen the role of the brand as a destination for sunscreen needs.
It is reported that 22 selected items under Jiaoxia have achieved annual sales of more than 30 million yuan each. Selected products make it easier for brands to realize the economic benefits of resource allocation for efficient supply chain management and large-scale procurement, thereby reducing costs. At present, the average age of Jiaoxia's design team is about 28 years old, and the average relevant experience of the technical team is about 8 years. It has 123 patents in China and is applying for 72 patents.
Jiaoxia has made the size of the sunscreen umbrella smaller, the sunscreen parameters have been adjusted higher, and the sunscreen masks have been made more suitable for the needs of contemporary young consumers. Although these measures are not subversive category innovations in essence, they may be the first brands closely associated with sun protection.
The above-mentioned links alone have given Jiaoxia the appearance of an emerging brand, making the product price nearly 4 times higher than that of Paradise Umbrella. After having this foundation, Jiaoxia will vigorously launch social media. Through market recognition, it will distance itself from other sunscreen clothing brands, break the niche ceiling of sunscreen brands, and allow the brand to connect with Chinese consumers of sunscreen products of all ages. glued together.
This is also why consumers feel that Jiaoxia seems to have suddenly "channeled" out. The high-density launch on various platforms last year has made Jiaoxia ubiquitous, but in fact the brand has been established as early as 2013, which proves that there is still a considerable market space from niche sunscreen products to the real mass market.
From celebrity endorsements to bloggers bringing goods, the high-density distribution on various platforms since last year has made Jiaoxia ubiquitous.
Correspondingly, the marketing expenses of Jiaoxia are also very large. According to the announcement, from 2019 to 2021, Jiaoxia’s distribution and sales expenses will be 125 million, 320 million, and 1.1 billion, accounting for 32.4%, 40.7% and 45.9% of its revenue, respectively.
A large amount of marketing investment has rapidly increased online sales. In 2021, Jiaoxia’s revenue from online stores and e-commerce platforms will be 1.95 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 161%. At the same time, Jiaoxia is also actively expanding its offline retail stores and other offline retail networks. It has expanded from 39 stores in 15 cities in 2019 to 66 stores in 23 cities in 2021.
Similar to other new consumer brands, some critics criticize Jiaoxia's excessive marketing and question whether the high reliance on placement can allow Jiaoxia to realize the transformation of brand value. However, once you realize the status quo of China's sunscreen market, it is not difficult to realize that although many new consumer brands have not yet become real "brands" and their premium base is not solid, when a market lacks a real "brand", someone must be Do it, even if it's Fake it till you make it.
This is just the first game of chess played by Jiao. Although this game is quite good, relying on this story to sprint for the IPO is a bit lacking in stamina and lack of excitement. Therefore, the new story that Jiaoxia thought of was to become "the first urban outdoor concept in China".
Jiaoxia stated in the prospectus that "sun protection is just the starting point for us to explore the urban outdoor lifestyle".
As Jiaoxia expands its business to the broader footwear and apparel market, especially non-sunscreen-related products, Jiaoxia's intentions are clear. The bigger story that Jiaoxia wants to tell is to expand from sun protection to outdoor lifestyle, which undoubtedly hits the extremely hot outdoor category, especially the urban outdoor field that is yet to be developed.
Jiaoxia said that the brand's products will meet the diverse functional needs of outdoor enthusiasts and the pursuit of a refined lifestyle by those who pursue quality life, covering scenarios such as exquisite camping, leisure sports, urban life, travel and vacation, and hiking.
In terms of products, Jiaoxia is expanding from the function of sun protection, trying to create products with both protection and comfort as a product strategy to meet the needs of sun protection, cooling, dryness, warmth, waterproof, lightweight and sports protection. It enables consumers to enjoy the fun of various urban outdoor scenes.
Unlike many global professional outdoor brands that are constantly targeting the Chinese market, Jiaoxia seems to want to become "Uniqlo in the outdoor field". However, once Jiaoxia, which started from a functional sunscreen umbrella, enters the image-oriented apparel market, it will immediately realize its shortcomings, which is the weakness of the brand's visual image system.
Interestingly, another new consumer brand with a similar name, "Jianai", stands out with a highly recognizable brand image design.