ZOZO Inc
TSE:3092
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ZOZO Inc
Earnings Call Analysis
Q1-2025 Analysis
ZOZO Inc
ZOZO presented its financial results for the first quarter of FY '24 ending in March 2025. The company experienced a 7.6% year-over-year increase in gross merchandise value (GMV), reaching JPY 141.8 billion. Despite facing challenges such as higher costs associated with new logistics bases and increased shipping expenses, ZOZO reported an operating profit (OP) of JPY 15.8 billion, marking a slight increase of 0.2% from the previous year.
In the first quarter, the GMV excluding other GMV also rose by 7.5%, totaling JPY 132.6 billion. Although the operating profit margin (OPM) decreased by 0.9 points to 12.0%, the gross profit increased due to higher GMV, growth in the advertising business, and changes in the shipping policy. The operational efficiency was partly impacted by higher costs but managed to yield positive results overall.
ZOZO witnessed a recovery in new buyer acquisition after a slower demand due to a warm winter in the previous quarter. The total number of buyers increased by 110,000 from the previous quarter, bringing the total to 11.79 million. Active members grew by 130,000 to 10.9 million, although guest buyers decreased slightly. Additionally, the average order value (AOV) went up by 2.0% year-over-year to JPY 8,343, as more items were purchased per order due to promotional activities and free shipping offers.
ZOZO continues to expand its platform, adding 30 new shops in the quarter, including high-profile brands like Her lip to and Tory Burch. Despite an average retail price drop of 0.7% to JPY 3,698, the increase in sales mix of lower-priced merchandise like T-shirts did not hinder overall growth. The company's strategy of diversifying product offerings and including popular cosmetic brands from Korea has positively impacted its sales.
The company's SG&A expenses relative to GMV increased by 1.4 points to 23.4%. Key factors for this rise included an increase in shipping expenses by 0.5 points due to higher fees from Yamato Transport, a 0.4-point rise in depreciation costs, and a 0.3-point increase in rent expenses from new logistics bases. Despite these added costs, ZOZO managed to keep its operational profitability stable.
For the ongoing fiscal year, ZOZO has maintained its consolidated earnings forecast and dividend, signaling confidence in its business performance. The company's focus on expanding its platform with new brands and managing promotional activities effectively positions it well for continued growth. Investors can expect stable revenue growth driven by increasing GMV, strategic cost management, and a diversified product mix.
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We're now going to start the first quarter financial results announcement of FY '24 ending March 2025 for ZOZO. We will only be offering live streaming this time. We plan to have a session until 5:30 p.m. And after that, we will have a Q&A session with institutional investors on a separate Zoom channel from 5:40 p.m.
I'd like to introduce the presenter, Director, Executive Vice President and CFO, Koji Yanagisawa. Hello? Now CFO, Yanagisawa will take us through the business results.
All right. I'd like to explain that. And before that, I'd like to talk a little bit about the background here. So this is where -- this has just been renovated, and then there's a new feature on it. This is an analysis of what will look good on you, and then this is a result of that analysis. So it's a slightly elegant and smart style. So that's why I look slightly elegant and smart today. So I hope that you check out WEAR and try this feature out.
I'd like to walk you through the first quarter financial results for the fiscal year ending in March 2025. And by the way, the presentation document we will use today has already been uploaded to our website's Investor Relations page. So please take a look. And the design of this year's material follows last year's, which was quite well received from you, and we hope to continue providing you with intelligible and easy-to-understand financial result information throughout this year.
If you are looking for a new design, I'm really sorry, but it was just so well received. So it's -- we're not continuing this design because I wanted to show up on the screen so much. That's not the reason. So let's jump right in. Here are the highlights of this quarter.
As for the first quarter of FY '24, our gross merchandise value, GMV, increased by 7.6% year-over-year totaling JPY 141.8 billion. Our GMV excluding other GMV rose by 7.5% year-over-year, reaching JPY 132.6 billion. Our operating profit rose by 0.2% year-over-year, reaching JPY 15.8 billion. Our operating profit margin, OPM, was 12.0%, decreasing by 0.9 points year-over-year. In terms of the achievement rate against the company plan, GMV excluding other GMV achievement rate was 23.2% and OPM achievement rate was 24.8%.
Demand for spring and summer items has been growing since mid-April as the temperatures have aligned with the previous years. And all businesses are generally progressing according to plan, with the OP also exceeding the plan, although by a small margin. And as a result, both GMV and OP have reached record highs.
And here are the quarterly consolidated financial results on Page 7. In the first quarter of this accounting period, GMV excluding other GMV grew by 7.5% year-over-year. The increase in gross profit is due to higher GMV, growth in the advertising business and changes to the shipping policy. And these factors outweighed higher costs associated with a new logistic bases and higher shipping costs due to the changes in economic conditions. And as a result, there was a 0.2% increase in OP. And as I have explained, our OPM was 12.0%.
Next, I'd like to share the details of our results, our business results. And by the way, [ Kobayasan ] style is kind of playful and casual. Okay. So let's go to Page 8 and look at the increase/decrease analysis of the operating profit for the first quarter. The previous FY's OP was JPY 15.86 billion, and in FY '24, it amounted to JPY 15.89 billion, up by approximately JPY 30 million.
Factors attributable to the growth of the OP were the following 3 factors: plus JPY 2.42 billion from the gross profit growth resulting from ZOZOTOWN and LY commerce GMV expansions; plus JPY 417 million from the sales increase generated by the advertising business; and thirdly, plus JPY 1.11 billion from the growth of shipping income and others coming from shipping policy change.
On the other hand, factors that drove down the OP are the 4 factors: minus JPY 1.6 billion from the increase in fixed costs impacted by the rise in the number of employees and logistic bases, and others; minus JPY 1.65 billion from the increase in variable costs that rose in correlation to the GMV and shipping expenses; thirdly, minus JPY 310 million from the increase of the actual promotion-related expenses associated mainly with expenses to attract customers and point-based sales promotions; and fourthly, minus JPY 410 million from other expenses, such as the purchase of consumables, including materials and equipment and increase in cloud server costs.
Let's go to Page 20 of the handout. This is the breakdown of our SG&A. The SG&A to GMV ratio was 23.4%, an increase of 1.4 points from the same period of last year. The main factors that drove up the SG&A ratio are the 3 factors: one, shipping expenses increased by 0.5 points as we accepted Yamato Transport shipping fee increases from April 1, 2024; secondly, depreciation rose by 0.4 points as the depreciation of the material handling equipment related to the logistics base, and so that was Ibaraki4; and then there's the rent expenses increased by 0.3 points following the commencement of the lease of ZOZO base Ibarak4 and 5.
Next, let's go to Page 23 of the handout. Here is the actual promotion-related expenses trend. In the first quarter, we used 3.3% worth of GMV as our actual promotion-related expenses, which are the sum of advertising expenses and point-related costs. Next, this is Page 19, OP and OPM trends. Due to the increased costs related to the new logistics bases and increased shipping costs due to the changes in economic conditions, our OPM for the current year was 0.9 points lower than in the same period of the previous year, landing at 12.0%.
And moving on to the main KPIs of ZOZOTOWN. This is Page 24 of the handout. The number of total buyers. And by the way, the KPIs hereafter do not include the results of our Line [ Yahoo ] Commerce or B2B business. The number of total buyers was up by 110,000 from the previous quarter, amounting to 11.79 million, of which active members was 10.9 million, increasing by 130,000. Guest buyers decreased by 20,000, finishing at 870,000.
In the fourth quarter of last year, the effects of the warm winter slowed down the demand, as I have informed you before, which resulted in a decrease in the number of annual buyers. However, in the first quarter, we saw a recovery in the new buyer acquisition as the temperatures picked up from mid-April. And thanks to it, we were able to increase the number of total buyers solidly.
Next, this is Page 27 of the handout, number of shops on ZOZOTOWN. As of the end of the first quarter, the number of shops was 1,605, a net increase of 10 shops from the end of the previous quarter. We welcomed 30 new shops to our platform this quarter. To name a few, we now have an apparel brand produced by a renowned female celebrity, Her lip to; and an American luxury brand, Tory Burch. And Cosme boutique called COSME ReMAKE, that carries popular cosmetic brands from Korea like rom&nd.
Let's now go to Page 29 of the handout. With respect to the average retail price, it turned out to be JPY 3,698, down by 0.7% year-over-year. The brands continued to increase their list prices for the spring and summer season, but the temperatures continue to be higher than usual years. And this resulted in an increase in the sales mix of relatively lower-priced merchandise, such as T-shirts. And then the ARP turned out to be slightly below that of the same quarter of the previous year.
Let's now go to Page 30, which is average order value. The AOV was JPY 8,343, up 2.0% year-over-year. Although the average retail price was slightly lower, the number of items purchased per order increased, bringing the average order value higher than that of last year. The number of items per order increased because we gave more days to free shipping on purchases over JPY 12,000 or more promotions than last year. And then, therefore, the ratio of combined purchases rose thanks to it.
Okay. And lastly, let's go to Page 32. Here are the full year consolidated earnings forecast and dividend for the ongoing fiscal year. There is no change to the business performance forecast. That's all from me.
That concludes ZOZO's first quarter financial results announcement for FY '24 ending in March 2025. Thank you for your time and attention.
[Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]