管理層發言
Ladies and gentlemen, good day, everyone, and welcome to Vipshop Holdings Limited First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, I would like to turn the call to Ms. Jessie Fan, Vipshop's Head of Investor Relations. Please proceed.
Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining the Vipshop First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. With us today are Eric Shen, our Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO; and Mark Wang, our CFO. Before management begins their prepared remarks, I would like to remind you that the discussion today will contain forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those outlined in our safe harbor statements in our earnings release and public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission which also applies to this call to the extent any forward-looking statements may be made. Please note that certain financial measures used on this call such as non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP net income attributable to Vipshop shareholders and non-GAAP net income per ADS are not presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Please refer to our earnings release for details relating to the reconciliation of our non-GAAP measures to GAAP metrics. With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Eric Shen.
Good morning, and good evening, everyone. Welcome, and thank you for joining our first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Our first quarter performance reflected a significant calendar-driven shift caused by the later Chinese New Year. This led to a successful holiday surge in activity that effectively pulled forward demand, resulting in the soft March. What is important to highlight is the health of our customer base. Our holiday results were outstanding, driven by customers who actively sought out our seasonal collection and value promotions. This strength of demand, especially in apparel, confirms that we remain a top priority for their spending and gives us real confidence in their long-term resilience. Our customer metrics this quarter further prove that resilience. Total active customers showed positive momentum, led by our SVIP members who grew by 9% year-over-year. Our paid members accounted for 50% to 55% of our online spending. We remain focused on the quality of our growth as we move further into the year. We are making steady progress in how we optimize merchandising, portfolio engagement with customers, and increased AI to reshape our price-retail model. Since realigning our team last year, we are seeing the benefits of a faster, more fluid approach to merchandising. By staying focused on customer relevance and deepening category expertise, we will be able to move from market insights to product on-shelf more quickly and ensure our deep-discount brand inventory hits when demand peaks. We are also driving better cross-category engagement as we create selection along the broad needs of our customers and develop more effective and analytic editing tools for brand partners. We are helping shopper cost take in apparel, cedar and home category. Following our last update, we have transitioned our Made-for-VIP line into a new phase, raising the bar for quality, stickiness and value. At the same time, we have tightened our planning with brand partners and seasonal channels to stay in sync with real-time fashion trends. This approach ensures our lineup is always curated and on trend. Looking ahead, we will continue to involve their exclusive offering as a primary driver of customer mindshare and brand loyalty. Building on our optimistic buying strategy, we will successfully speed up our buying cycle. Over the past few months, our teams have locked in a high volume of exclusive low-priced inventory that is now flowing through the platform. This has enhanced the treasury and experience for our customers. We are seeing strong daily habits from our high-value shoppers, who return more frequently to discover our latest arrivals. This differentiated merchandising approach aligns with the strength of our SVIP program by offering exclusive access to pre-sales and unique inventory. We are driving both member acquisition and loyalty. A great example is our recent event with a global athletic brand where a curated selection delivered a surge in new SPA design apps, particularly among young mall shoppers, and sales were many times above the baseline. In line with the push for high-value engagement, we have shifted towards a more targeted acquisition model using refined algorithms that identify members with the highest long-term value. By replacing generic benefits with a tiered service system, we are directly rewarding higher spending with exclusive product access, deeper discounts, one-stop customer support and value-added benefits. This will further optimize conversion and individual spend. These integrated assets ensure the SVIP program remains our primary engine for sustainable revenue and earnings growth. At the pace the change in retail is accelerating, we are excited to embrace the broad opportunities AI offers. Our initial focus has been on putting the customer first, enhancing experiences through virtual try-ons, smart search and recommendations, and automated customer support. We also leveraged AI to reach potential customers more effectively with automated content. Having proven these use cases, we are now shifting our focus towards scaling these capabilities for greater operational impact. For example, we are using generative AI to scale personalized marketing by combining our operational expertise with real-time customer feedback. Our AI marketing agent effectively tailors creative across video, photo and text formats. This has already driven a clear lift in our customer acquisition efficiency. Beyond marketing, AI is increasingly empowering our brand partners with advanced business analytics, deeper customer cohort insights and optimized merchandising strategy. By angling our strategy in the off-price model and leveraging best-in-class technology, we have identified more effective ways to serve our customers from dynamic merchandising to a smart supply chain. This allows us to continue earning customer loyalty through every interaction. We remain committed to investing in our people and our platform. We are confident that by continuously optimizing our operational strategies, we will drive steady, profitable growth for the long term. At this point, let me hand over the call to our CFO, Mark Wang, to go over our financial results.
Thanks, Eric, and hello, everyone. Our latest results landed within our guided range reflecting a dynamic quarter that was heavily influenced by the late Chinese New Year. The holiday period triggered a concentrated surge in demand for winter and early spring apparel categories where our merchandise resonated well with a broader base of consumers. By successfully capturing this big seasonal opportunity, we proved the effectiveness of our coordinated efforts across merchandising, customer engagement and operations. This operational synergy directly fed into our bottom line. Margins remain healthy and stable, underpinned by a highly favorable category mix and our continued operational discipline. As Eric outlined, we maintained focused strategic investments in our key growth drivers: expanding differentiated merchandise offerings, lifting SVIP engagement and scaling AI integration across our operations. At the same time, we continue to manage our broader resource pool with strict prudence, dynamically shifting spend to our most productive activities. This balanced approach ensures we sustain solid baseline profitability by prioritizing high-quality profitable revenue today. Simultaneously, it allows us to systematically strengthen our foundations for the long term, even as we navigate an uncertain macroeconomic backdrop. Turning to shareholder returns, we remain firmly on track to deliver on our 2026 commitment of returning around 75% of full-year 2025 non-GAAP net income to shareholders. In April, we completed our annual dividend, distributing approximately USD 300 million. For the quarters ahead, we look forward to executing the remaining balance of our shareholder return program. Our free cash flow outlook is robust, and we have the full financial capacity to meet our full-year allocation target. Now moving to our detailed quarterly financial highlights. Before I get started, I would like to clarify that all financial numbers presented below in RMB and all the percentage changes are year-over-year changes unless otherwise noted. Total net revenues for the first quarter of 2026 increased by 1.2% year-over-year to RMB 26.6 billion from RMB 26.3 billion in the prior year period. Gross profit increased by 6.8% year-over-year to RMB 6.5 billion from RMB 6.1 billion in the prior year period. Gross margin increased to 24.4% from 23.2% in the prior year period. Total operating expenses were RMB 4.2 billion compared with RMB 4.0 billion in the prior year period. As a percentage of total net revenue, total operating expenses were 15.7% compared with 15.3% in the prior year period. Fulfillment expenses were RMB 2.0 billion compared with RMB 1.9 billion in the prior year period. As a percentage of total net revenues, fulfillment expenses were 7.7% compared with 7.2% in the prior year period. Marketing expenses decreased by 1.8% year-over-year to RMB 719.3 million from RMB 732.1 million in the prior year period. As a percentage of total net revenues, marketing expenses decreased to 2.7% from 2.8% in the prior year period. Technology and content expenses decreased by 0.2% year-over-year to RMB 448.2 million from RMB 449.1 million in the prior year period. As a percentage of total net revenues, technology and content expenses were 1.7%, which stays roughly flat compared with that in the prior year period. General and administrative expenses were RMB 950.5 million compared with RMB 905.8 million in the prior year period. As a percentage of total net revenues, general and administrative expenses were 3.6%, which is slightly higher compared with that in the prior year period. Income from operations increased by 9.7% year-over-year to RMB 2.5 billion from RMB 2.3 billion in the prior year period. Operating margin increased to 9.4% from 8.7% in the prior year period. Non-GAAP income from operations increased by 3.5% year-over-year to RMB 2.7 billion from RMB 2.6 billion in the prior year period. Non-GAAP operating margin increased to 10.2% from 10.0% in the prior year period. Net income attributable to Vipshop's shareholders increased by 13.6% year-over-year to RMB 2.2 billion from RMB 1.9 billion in the prior year period. Net margin attributable to Vipshop shareholders increased to 8.3% from 7.4% in the prior year period. Net income attributable to Vipshop shareholders per diluted ADS increased to RMB 4.48 from RMB 3.72 in the prior year period. Non-GAAP net income attributable to Vipshop shareholders was RMB 2.31 billion, flat compared with RMB 2.31 billion in the prior year period. Non-GAAP net margin attributable to Vipshop shareholders was 8.7% compared with 8.8% in the prior year period. Non-GAAP net income attributable to Vipshop shareholders per diluted ADS was RMB 4.6 from RMB 4.43 in the prior year. As of March 31, 2026, we had cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash of RMB 28.3 billion and short-term investments of RMB 2.7 billion. Looking forward to the second quarter of 2026, we expect our total net revenues to be between RMB 24.5 billion and RMB 25.8 billion, representing a year-over-year decrease of approximately 5% to 0%. Please note that this forecast reflects our current and preliminary view of the market and operational conditions, which is subject to change. With that, I would now like to open the call to Q&A.
分析師問答
We will now take the first question today. This is from Thomas Chong from Jefferies.
My first question is about the monthly GMV trend. Given that we have seen some softness in industry parcel volume the past few weeks or even last month, how is our monthly GMV so far? And my second question is relating to June team. How should we think about the rent this year versus last year? And on top of that, how is consumer sentiment these days that we should think about the outlook for the second half?
We actually started the year on a very strong note. We saw a holiday surge during the January to February period when consumers concentrated their buying activities and that effectively pulled forward demand. Following the holiday period, we saw a very apparent moderation of sales in March. As we entered the second quarter, the April data did not turn out very well; it did not improve from March. Into May to date, it's still very challenging, though we saw a slight pickup in consumer activity. As we have been through half of the quarter, we have relatively low visibility on consumer sentiment and activity; how the rest of the quarter will turn out depends on broader industry promotions, which we also do not expect to be large. So we think it's more prudent to give a conservative guidance and reset our second quarter expectations. Turning to our outlook for the full year, we think we still have opportunities in the second half and we believe if consumer sentiment improves marginally we should be able to capture opportunities in discretionary spending, especially apparel. We will make our best effort to maintain steady operational performance for the second half. For the full year, we continue to believe we will maintain a steady outlook.
We will now take the next question. This is Fama Vicky Wu from CICC.
I would like to ask for some updates regarding Shanshan outlets. First, could you walk us through Shanshan's first quarter performance? Second, we've noticed that the Vipshop commercial REIT is about to be launched. How should we assess its subsequent impact on the financial statements?
Thanks for your question. The Shenzhen outlet business was quite strong in the first quarter, with GMV growth around 30% year-over-year. Regarding the REIT, some investors may be aware that Vipshop's commercial REIT obtained official approval from the CSRC and the Shanghai Stock Exchange in late April and completed the pricing process on May 19. There are two underlying assets: outlets in Zhengzhou and Harbin; both malls have operated for around 10 years and both outlets hold leading positions in their regional markets. The Chengdu outlet is the highest-grossing mall in Hunan province for the group and Harbin ranks first in Heilongjiang province. The commercial REIT should feature more flexible policy regarding fund usage and expansion mechanism. In addition to these two outlets already used as underlying assets for the REIT, we also hold another 18 projects, demonstrating strong potential for future expansion. We will conduct further evaluation based on our strategy and market conditions. For the accounting treatment for Zhengzhou and Harbin, we subscribed for 49% of the total shares in the commercial REIT. In simple terms, we will lose control and we will deconsolidate the investment from our financials and recognize the related investment accordingly. More specifically, on a GAAP basis, we will book a one-time investment gain of around RMB 5.3 billion in the second quarter, and an associated increase in current income tax. Cash flow-wise, we will see a significant increase in net cash inflow of approximately RMB 1.7 billion in the second quarter.
We will now take the next question. This is from Alicia Yap from Citigroup.
I wanted to follow up. Management earlier mentioned that April was negative growth for the platform, and that May so far—month-to-date—also seems negative. But last week we had China retail sales data showing total apparel sales actually grew 3.6% in April. So I wanted to understand where the disconnect is. Is a lot of this spending shifting to offline, or are we losing online market share to other platforms? Related to that, on Shanshan outlook: you mentioned the platform grew 30-plus percent. Is this because consumer behavior is shifting more to offline shopping, or is it because Shanshan actually has certain merchandise that Vipshop online does not?
The NBS apparel sales growth of 3.6% refers to both online and offline. Based on our observation, online has seen a notable decline—we are quite in line with the industry trend—while offline has seen stronger growth. We believe this could be the difference in consumer activity between online and offline shopping. When consumers shop online, they tend to have higher return rates, which compresses reported sales and revenue data. Offline, consumers are shifting some spending increasingly to outlet channels, and merchants and brand partners have been allocating a bit more resources to offline outlet channels as well. That said, we think some of this is still holiday-driven, and going forward we need to see whether the momentum can be sustained. The offline outperformance has also been concentrated in certain categories—particularly sportswear and outdoor products—which perform exceptionally well because they fit consumer lifestyles right now. Online category performance mirrors this: even in April and May, when we saw broader weakness in apparel, sportswear and outdoor products continued to outperform. The real weakness is in more discretionary fashion-driven categories like women's and men's wear. We still need time to see whether discretionary spending will improve going forward.
We will now take the next question. This is from Ronald Keung from Goldman Sachs.
First, I want to ask about the GMV gap with revenue. Is that due to Shanshan or maybe the return rates have changed? Second, given that March, April and May trends have been quite soft, should we bake this into expectations for the second half? Last year the pace in the third quarter was strong, so how should we think about recent trends translating into expectations for the second half?
Thanks for your question. The year-over-year growth gap between revenue and GMV in the first quarter increased due to two reasons. First, return rates slightly increased year-over-year due to a higher contribution from apparel categories and SVIP members. Second, there was increased GMV contribution from our outlet business, given the outlet operates on a commission-based model. From an accounting perspective, we recognize that revenue on a net method for the commission-based outlet transactions, which results in a wider revenue-to-GMV gap.
In terms of our full-year outlook, even when we see near-term pressure from March to May to date, we believe it's still within our control. Our second-quarter guidance range of negative 5% to 0% year-over-year is a range we are confident in maintaining. The recent softness is related to a number of factors: weather conditions, seasonal transition from spring into summer apparel, and some uncertainty in consumer sentiment and behavior. We may need more time to see whether the trend will improve, but for the full year we still think our full-year target is achievable. By continuously optimizing our operational strategies, we should be able to maintain at least a steady business performance.
Due to time constraints, that concludes today's Q&A session. At this time, I will turn the conference back to Jessie for any closing remarks.
Thank you for taking the time to join us today. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact our IR team. We look forward to speaking with you next quarter.
This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.