With a net profit of 600 million in six months, JNBY aims to achieve annual retail sales of 10 billion

Author | Wang Xiaojun

Editor | Huang Yu

The global apparel industry is still battling through a harsh winter, with many brands experiencing varying degrees of performance decline, but some brands have achieved counter-cyclical growth.

Recently, JNBY released its interim results for the six months ending December 31, 2024 (the first half of the 2025 fiscal year). The performance data shows that JNBY's revenue and net profit have both increased.

Currently, with offline foot traffic fluctuating and facing numerous uncertainties such as the changing retail environment and consumer behavior habits, brands need more strategies to retain consumers and demonstrate their resilience. JNBY's performance and stability may provide some new insights for the apparel industry in the red ocean.

In 2024, the number of member accounts with total purchases exceeding RMB 5,000 surpassed 330,000, which to some extent has built a moat for JNBY, supporting it through cycles.

However, even with resilience, JNBY faces challenges such as declining revenue per store, a drop in active members, and a long-term reliance on its main brand JNBY. These objective issues need to be gradually improved and balanced by JNBY.

Six Hundred Million in Half a Year

From the performance data, in the first half of the 2025 fiscal year (ending December 31, 2024), JNBY delivered a "steady progress" report card.

The data shows that JNBY's total revenue for the first half of the 2025 fiscal year reached RMB 3.156 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5%; net profit was RMB 604 million, a year-on-year increase of 5.5%. The gross profit margin remained stable at 65.1%, although it slightly decreased by 0.1 percentage points compared to the same period last year, it is still at a high level compared to the industry's general rapid decline.

Despite facing challenges such as fluctuations in consumer recovery and unstable offline foot traffic, JNBY achieved dual growth in revenue and profit through multi-brand collaboration, online channel efforts, and the emergence of new brands. Currently, offline revenue still accounts for the majority of JNBY's revenue, but the efficiency of digital retail online is beginning to stand out.

The data shows that in the first half of the 2025 fiscal year, JNBY's offline revenue grew by 3.5% to RMB 2.554 billion, while online revenue grew by 11.9% to RMB 602 million, with the gross profit margin of online channels increasing by 2.3 percentage points year-on-year to 64.2%. The strong performance of online channels is attributed to JNBY's use of social e-commerce tools such as "WeChat Mini Programs" and "BOX+ Not Just a Box," achieving traffic privatization and precise marketing.

To some extent, JNBY's stability is due to the contribution of its loyal members, which has built a moat for it in counter-cyclical conditions.

JNBY stated that its member contribution to retail sales accounts for over 80%, although the number of active members has declined from 550,000 in the same period last year to 540,000. However, the number of high-net-worth members with annual consumption exceeding RMB 5,000 reached 330,000, a year-on-year increase of 10%, and these members contribute 60% of offline channel sales. This data confirms the effectiveness of JNBY's "fan economy" strategy, with high-engagement users becoming core assets to withstand market fluctuations However, even with a profit of 600 million in six months, JNBY's performance is not perfect.

During the reporting period, the cash generated from operating activities for JNBY was 965 million yuan, which is less than the 1.19 billion yuan in the same period last year. The net cash flow from operating activities for JNBY decreased by 22.2% year-on-year to 823 million yuan, and cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period fell to 740 million yuan.

Additionally, affected by the warm winter, the sell-through rate of autumn and winter clothing and the early procurement of spring and summer products for the Spring Festival, JNBY's main inventory turnover days increased by 7 days to 144.5 days, and inventory grew by 32% year-on-year to 990 million yuan.

It is evident that although it achieved counter-cyclical growth, JNBY still needs to further balance the common issues in the industry, such as prolonged survival cycles.

Reliance on JNBY

With the layout in recent years, JNBY has established a three-tier structure of "mature brands + growth brands + emerging brands," covering the full range of needs from mass to high-end and from adults to children.

In terms of revenue contribution from various brands, the bulk of JNBY's revenue still comes from the mature main brand JNBY. As the pillar brand with a 30-year history, it contributes 55.8% of the revenue (1.76 billion yuan), with a growth rate of 3.6%. Although it has slowed down, it maintains a stable base.

The brand tier consists of Sketch, jnby by JNBY, and LESS, with a total revenue of 1.202 billion yuan, accounting for 38.1%. However, Sketch and jnby by JNBY saw revenue declines of 6% and 0.6%, respectively, while LESS saw a slight increase of 0.8%. This also indicates that the growth brands in the second tier are currently showing weak growth.

The strong reliance on JNBY can also be seen from the layout of the stores.

As of the end of December 2024, JNBY had a total of 2,126 offline stores. Among them, the mature brand JNBY has the most stores, totaling 960; the second-tier growth brands have a total of 1,092 stores, including 517 for jnby by JNBY, 316 for the men's brand Sketch, and 259 for LESS; the emerging brands have 52 stores, along with 22 "JNBY+" multi-brand collection stores.

However, the good news is that emerging brands are becoming the main contributors to growth.

JNBY's emerging brands include Pengma, JNBYHOME, onmygame, and two other brands, with this matrix's revenue skyrocketing by 147.3% to 194 million yuan, mainly due to the acquisition of the children's sports brand onmygame and the buyer's store B1OCK in 2024, with single-store revenue surging by 80.7%, becoming the growth engine.

Currently, the various brands under JNBY still show significant differentiation. In the future, JNBY still needs to balance the investment among various brands and seek balanced growth for each brand through corresponding strategies.

Although JNBY accounts for 55.8% of the revenue, single-store revenue slightly decreased to 1.83 million yuan, facing pressure from channel saturation and intensified competition. In the future, it needs to enhance product freshness through product innovation, such as co-branded products and eco-friendly series, and also needs to upgrade membership services to maintain its competitive edge The decline in sketch sales is quite evident, with single-store revenue at 1.22 million yuan (a year-on-year decrease of 7.8%), reflecting fierce competition in the men's clothing market and issues of brand aging. JNBY by JNBY indicates that while the children's clothing market shows an overall positive trend, the main brand needs to address the challenge of design homogenization. LESS has seen steady growth but with a higher average transaction value, requiring further expansion into high-net-worth customer segments.

Emerging brands, however, face sustainability challenges behind their high growth. Onmygame (children's sports) and B1OCK (boutique) have propelled emerging brands, although their revenue has surged, their scale only accounts for 6.1%. Future validation of offline expansion capabilities and brand independent operational efficiency is necessary.

100 Billion Target

In the face of a complex environment, JNBY CFO Fan Yongkui stated that the company's target of 10 billion in retail for the fiscal year 2026 remains unchanged. The company will continue to enrich its brand portfolio through self-incubation or acquisitions to promote revenue growth. "We hope to build a century-old brand."

Since the target for 10 billion in revenue is set, JNBY needs more confidence and strategy in its performance. Specifically, JNBY is focusing on various aspects such as brand, channels, and supply chain to enhance overall retail sales.

In terms of branding, the acquisition of Onmygame in 2024 has validated integration capabilities, and in the future, it may supplement sports, home, and other niche segments through controlling acquisitions and incubating designer brands. Additionally, JNBY will promote the transition of emerging brands to growth brands, such as planning to expand Onmygame's offline stores to 50 and improve B1OCK's sales per square meter.

Regarding channels, JNBY plans to continue optimizing offline experiences. The "JNBY+" store plan will increase to 50 locations, enhancing scene-added value through cross-industry collaborations (such as art exhibitions and coffee spaces).

Moreover, JNBY plans to open stores in overseas markets. Currently, JNBY has 2,126 stores globally, with 2,109 located in mainland China, and overseas revenue accounting for less than 1% (32.11 million yuan). JNBY plans to establish pilot projects in Southeast Asia and other markets to replicate the domestic membership operation model.

Even as a traditional clothing industry player, JNBY is integrating DeepSeek, which is currently applied in various internal process optimizations. In the future, JNBY plans to incorporate AI into membership services, intelligent product selection, and other processes to improve overall operational efficiency.

In addition, JNBY has been focusing on creating its unique ESG sustainable fashion, concentrating on four areas: product sustainability, environmental sustainability, talent sustainability, and community sustainability.

Among these, sustainable materials and the inheritance and innovation of intangible cultural heritage techniques have become highlight projects. In the first half of the 2025 fiscal year, sustainable materials accounted for 24.1% of the total weight of material procurement, an increase of 8.9% year-on-year, steadily progressing towards the 30% commitment target. In terms of improving resource utilization, JNBY continues to promote inventory fabric reuse projects, with 88,000 meters of inventory fabric used during the reporting period.

With the recovery of the consumer market, the Chinese clothing market continues to show diverse consumption trends, and the influence of local brands in the Chinese market is continuously increasing, providing JNBY with more opportunities JNBY's financial report confirms the resilience of its "design capability + brand power + fan economy" model. Although it faces short-term challenges from growth brand adjustments and cash flow pressures, the goal of reaching 10 billion is not out of reach through emerging brand incubation, deepening omnichannel retail, and exploring ESG value