Dear investors and analysts, good morning. I'm Chen Bing from JS Global IR Department, and welcome all of you to participate in our 2023 annual results presentation. Before we officially start, please allow me to introduce the management here today. They are CFO and Executive Director of JS Global Lifestyle, Ms. Han Run; Financial Director of JS Global Lifestyle, Mr. Liu Ningqing; CFO of Joyoung, Mr. Kan Jiagang; and the Board Secretary of Joyoung, Mr. Miao Mingxin. Without further ado, first of all, let's welcome our CFO and Executive Director of JS Global Lifestyle to deliver our opening remarks.
Thank you. Hello, everyone. Welcome you to participate in our 2023 annual results presentation, and I'd like to be on behalf of JS Global Lifestyle to extend gratitude to your long-term support attention. In the past year, the company experienced its biggest change since its IPO.
Through strategic restructuring, we optimized resource allocation and adjusted our business portfolio, laying a solid foundation for our long-term growth and development. Today, we stand in a new starting point of focusing on the business operations, specifically on the APAC regions, including the Greater China. We will continue to invest resources to present and penetrate into the new markets and introduce more innovative products and adapt to the needs of new regions for sustainable development and growth. Joyoung division is where the group's fundamentals lie. Faced with increasingly competitive landscape and a more pronounced consumer grading situation in Mainland China, we have continued to deepen our efforts in innovative and R&D.
And we also launched a number of new products, in particular, the zero-coating second-generation non-stick rice cooker, which allowed us to lead the industry in the categories of the rigid demand, in addition to the category of blenders. And we also own a total of 13,181 patented technologies. In supply chain management, Joyoung has improved its digital management capabilities and is committed to building a digital supply chain management system. In terms of the channels, we have expanded the portfolios and of the directly managed channels, strengthened the construction of a retail terminal guide teams, and actively laid out and expanded emerging channels, coordinated the development of shelf e-commerce and the content e-commerce by focusing closely on the user-centered and continuously improving the conversion rate.
In 2023, we also smoothly transitioned our business in SharkNinja APAC region, and we also have set up a consistent IT, financial, tax, internal control, and HR systems, and have a positioning of the service oriented headquarter, laid a solid foundation to further dig into the potentials of the APAC market in terms of the business. We have acquired the distributors of SharkNinja in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, and New Zealand, so that we can quickly develop into these markets. In the Japanese market, we had consolidated our core strengths in the advantages with our key products, and had promoted the vacuum series products adapted to the needs of the consumers there, and have a greater growth of the team in Japan. We also have reached a successful sales arrangement in the Philippine distributors in the year-end.
And, with the smooth operation in, Shark Ninja APAC region and the greater transition, we believe that in the coming few years, it will continuously contribute to our performance growth. And next, I'd like to invite our Financial Director, Leon, and, IR colleague, Mars, to introduce us the 2023 financial results and, the business updates of the two segments. Thank you.
Hello, good morning. I am Leon from JS Global Lifestyle, and welcome again to attend today's 2023 annual results presentation. Looking back at 2023, our business performance was overall in line with the company's expectations. And as a result of the company's strategic restructure during the year, we are focusing today on the financials from continuing operations. The company's revenue from continuing operations was $1.43 billion, a slight decline of 3.2% year-on-year.
Excluding sourcing, revenue from a continuing operation was $1.21 billion, down 13.3 year-on-year. On the gross profit margin side, excluding sourcing, our full year gross profit was $319 million, down 12.9% year-on-year. Gross margin, on the other hand, was flat, with a slight increase of 0.1 percentage points. Adjusted EBITDA was $84 million, equivalent to 5.9%, down 56.8% and 7.2 percentage points year-on-year, respectively. Adjusted net profit from continuing operation was $38 million, down 72.5% year-on-year. Adjusted profit margin 2.6%.
EPS, full year is 1.5 cents, 14% lower year-on-year, mainly due to one-time charges for the spin-off projects and declining performance of the Joyoung segment and the share-based compensation program. By segment, our revenue from continuing operations is comprised of Joyoung and SharkNinja APAC segment, with the SharkNinja APAC segment share of revenue for the full year growing from 4.6% to 12.6%, and the financial statement level, it grew to around $152 million from about $64 million to $157 million on the same exchange rate basis at the financial statement level. Whereas in the prior year, only Japan was actually included in the Asia Pacific segment reporting scope.
This year, we consolidated the new regions through acquisition and also included revenue from the sales to distributors in the reporting scope. The Joyoung segment, on the other hand, declined from $1,325 million in the prior year to $1,053 million in the current year. The decline of the Joyoung segment was mainly attributable to the slow recovery of the consumer demand in Mainland China, and more intense competition in the industry, and the decline in the performance of the overall small home appliance industry during the year. The strong growth of the SharkNinja APAC segment, on the other hand, was mainly contributed by Japan and the new markets, in addition to the different calculation criteria due to the spin-offs and the distribution acquisition.
In Japan, we saw significant market share growth in the cordless vacuum cleaner category, and in terms of the new markets, we have entered four new markets: Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Singapore, through strategic acquisitions, with Australia contributing the most. In addition, we have grown our Korean distributor business after the spin-off and have started to enter the Philippine market. And by region, revenue from China declined more sharply, which is basically more in line with the reason for the revenue decline in the Joyoung segment. And in Japan, we achieved a good revenue growth through the continued launch of our line of cordless vacuum cleaners, customized especially for the Japanese households, lifting from $64 million to about $92 million, a 43.7% improvement year-on-year.
In Australia and New Zealand, we accessed the new markets with the strategic acquisition, and the revenue reached $44 million. We are confident that we will continue to grow well in this region. In other markets, which mainly comprise SharkNinja APAC, Korea, and Southeast Asia regions, revenue had to grow from $18 million- $32 million in the current year. This growth was mainly due to our strengthened partnerships with distributors and retailers in Korea and Southeast Asia, which enhanced the operation efficiency. The gross profit margin, excluding sourcing in 2023, is 32.5%.
The year-on-year increase of 10 basis points in gross profit margin was mainly benefited from portfolio premiumization in Japan and the strategic acquisition, where we have a structurally higher margin by selling directly to retailers and consumers, but partially offset by relatively low gross margin from Joyoung segment. Decrease in absolute amount of gross profit was mainly due to decrease in overall revenue of the continuing operation, excluding sourcing. Operationally, inventory turnover days for continuing operation decreased from 69 days to 51 days after the spin-off, mainly due to Joyoung's implementation of an active inventory management policy. For accounts receivable and bills turnover, it decreased from 131 days to 93 days. The decrease was mainly due to the new markets after the spin-off, including Australia and New Zealand, who had relatively shorter accounts receivable turnover days.
Accounts and notes payable turnover decreased from 260 days- 202 days. The very high turnover in fiscal year 2022 was due to two reasons. Firstly, the high billing period of Japan business to SharkNinja before the demerger, and the settlement of the original SharkNinja's related goods arrears after the demerger in fiscal year 2023. And secondly, the continuation of Joyoung's original relatively high billing period, and Joyoung's share of JS has increased significantly. On the balance sheet, capital expenditures from continuing operations were significantly reduced to approximately $10 million this year, primarily due to the spin-off, which resulted in continuing operations reducing their investments in assets such as tooling during the year.
As of December 31, 2023, the company had repaid all of its interest-bearing borrowings, resulting in a debt-to-equity ratio of only 0.01 times, and the return on invested capital from continuing operation was 12.8%. Next, I'd like to invite Mars to introduce you the updates of our two segments business.
Hello, everyone. First of all, I'd like to introduce you Joyoung segment's business updates from domestic and international sales. In terms of domestic sales, Joyoung segment, in the face of challenging domestic and international environment in 2023, has continuously adhered to the brand concept of innovation and health. And we have realized pioneering innovation in our core products this year, launching a number of innovative and consumer-friendly products in the industry.
Our second generation zero-coating rice cooker, on the basis of the first generation zero-coating, realized that the national standards for Class Two National Standard, which leads the development of, the rice cookers in the industry, and also created, a brand image of Joyoung's healthy small home appliances in the category of rice cookers. Our Inverter Light Sound Blender, the first application of the brushless, motor, had to reduce the unpleasant sound from the source, and the noise has been lowered to 37 decibels, and this addressed the pain points of a lot of the customers.... and our Air Fryer V2 Fast, Antibacterial Water Purifier and heater, and many other innovative products that improves the quality of the daily life of the consumers.
In terms of the international sales, Joyoung segment, relying on the group's globalization development background, has actively exerted its advantages in R&D and innovation, supply chain management, et cetera. Its revenue from export has been very eye-catching. On the Asia segment, the overall revenue had increased to $2.2 billion from $1.3 billion of the previous year, representing a 68.8% year-on-year growth, and it's mainly contributed by the increase in the ODM business. Currently, we cover various categories, including the pressure cookers, air fryers, grills, blenders, coffee makers, and beverage makers. By leveraging its R&D and innovation capabilities accumulated over the past three decades, Joyoung has gradually grown to become one of the most prominent suppliers to the Shark Ninja Group and to the Shark Ninja APAC division of the group.
It will also export more high quality and differentiated small home appliances products to global market in the future. After the strategic restructure, the group had also spent a lot of efforts in further develop SharkNinja APAC region for its smooth transition and improve the team and the systems, and promoting the new products, and extended more promotion activities to gain higher market share.
So we are consumer-centered and have a deeper understanding of the consumers, and then have more localized the products with the best cost and performance. At the same time, we are also improving our quality marketing activities. We improve the brand image, and the brand awareness of consumers is also enhanced at the same time. So later, we could also show you how do we do this high-quality marketing campaign. So the growth strategy of Asia APAC has always been based on the development strategy of constantly exploring opportunities in existing markets and new markets, and constantly consolidating the advantages of core existing categories, introducing new categories, and expanding of more markets. So this year, we have performed strongly in Japan and Australia, and at the same time, we have also re-entered the market of Korea, Singapore, and also successfully go to Singapore and Malaysia.
And, we also have expanded to new markets like Philippines. So the new products in APAC have also been very loved by our consumers. So now, I will also share with you how the above-mentioned, the growth strategy, will specifically be implemented in APAC. So the first is how the company wins the existing category. Let's take a look at the cordless vacuum cleaner. So in the second quarter of this year, we have launched this Clean Sense IQ series products to Japanese market, and then in Q4, we also released the EVOPOWER SYSTEM NEO series. So these two products launches have been greatly loved by retailers and the consumers, and we are also supported by local retailers, which not only improves our shelf space and the share in a store, it has also provided better shelf position to us.
According to GfK POS, our share in this Japanese cordless vacuum cleaner market has increased from 11.8% to... Actually, for 2023, altogether to 16.6%. So compared with 2021, our market share nearly doubled in the two years of cordless vacuum cleaner. This has shown our Japanese retailers and users are constantly improving their trust of Shark as a brand and the products. So our products has also been widely recognized by professionals and experts. Among them, EVOPOWER SYSTEM NEO Plus has already won the Best Purchase Award in 2023, Nova max Wireless Vacuum Cleaner Award in 2023, and Good Design Award in 2023 as well. So now, I would also share with you how do we improve and realize our second growth pillar. I still remember in this midterm once, and...
So I would also like to share with you this Ninja Blast blender. So we think this is not enough to only have this a good product, but how to let more people to experience and know it is even more important. So last November, we took the lead in launching this product in Australia. At that time, our team in Australia has also invited more than 50 local representatives and the KOL to hold a course and a night party at this iconic Body By Berner studio in Bondi Beach, Sydney. So the drinks in this course and the cocktails served in the party have all been made by Ninja Blast. And all the participants at that time could experience the whole production process.
So with this kind of campaign, with this media and the spread of KOL, our whole activity resulted in 39 different media reports and more than 200 million media exposures, which has also helped our Ninja Blast and Ninja Blast portable blender has already opened up the new markets and create a perfect start for the future success. The third growth pillar is to constantly explore the new markets. So this is also constantly focusing on this strong brand awareness and the brand exposure. So recently in Korea and Singapore, for this a high-level meeting, so we focus on the strengthening of the key retail partnership that we have shown to our new partners in these new markets. The success of SharkNinja in the globe, and then the success in Japan, Australia, has also demonstrated the outstanding performance of our product portfolio in different regions. And-...
We also can say that the overall development has already given this very immersive development, and then to also have this overall interactions, it is also showing that for them to have this APAC-specific products, the tailor-made innovative products for APAC. We also hope that we would also have the support from the retailer and the partners, so we also hope that for Shark and Ninja, they could also make them as well-known brands in these markets. These are the growth of the APAC region. So now I would like to share with you the ESG in the past year, what have we done here? So in 2023, we have not recalled any product due to health and safety problems, and the complaint resolution rate of report 100%.
Throughout the year, we have also obtained 1,653 new patents and showed our leading position in the field of innovation. Our management of suppliers have also been very strict. SharkNinja APAC requires all suppliers to pass a third-party audit, while Joyoung requires all core suppliers to obtain ISO 9001 certification. In terms of environmental protection, we have set up a renovation factories to deal with the return products and promote the recycling of the resources. Our self-built photovoltaic power generating exceeding the 3.4 million kilowatts, a YoY increase of 12%. In terms of social care, the CSR Joyoung Foundation has also been awarded as this a five-year social organization in 2023.
Our Joyoung Public Kitchen projects has also built 1,485 kitchens, of which 128 were built in 2023, benefiting more than two million students. In addition, 245 workshops have been built in food and cooking workshops. 54 workshops have been added this year. We have also done equally done in supporting the employees. All the employees have received the training, and the average training time is over 70 hours. We have provided about 1% of full jobs for the disabled and have no work-related deaths for 5 consecutive years. Our ESG work has also been recognized by many organizations in 2023.
We have obtained the MSCI double A rating, ranking first in the household, the durable goods industry in China, and at the same time, we achieved the top 5% of the global furniture durable goods industry in the S&P Global Sustainable Score. In addition, we got an A+ rating in the sustainable rating of the Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency, which is also in the top 10% of the non-essential consumer goods industry in Hong Kong. In terms of, FTSE Russell ESG score, we also rose to 3.7, surpassing 67% of our peers around the world. JS Global Lifestyle has always believed that the promoting healthy and sustainable development is the enduring motive force for the enterprises. Dear investors, our presentation today is over until now. Now we will enter the QA session.
So investors on the web, you could also enter text on the Zoom platform to ask questions, and then you could directly type questions on the Zoom platform. So while waiting for the investors on the web page to put the questions, we could also ask the conference secretary to broadcast the way of asking questions on the phone end. Now, let's see whether there are investors or not, please.
Hello, everybody. If you want to propose a question, please press star and then press number one to raise questions. When you hear the reminder tone, and then please propose your question. So hello, everybody. If you want to raise a question, press star and then number one to raise a question. When you hear the reminding tone, please leave your question here.
So while we are waiting, we can already see that there is a question on the QA panel. I'll first ask that. So how do you think about this 2024 China and APAC small home appliance competitive environment and the consumption environment?
And then we can already see that this is already like a quite a slow recovery. However, the core is we need to do more efforts, and at the same time, we think that the overall small home appliance they have not been enough to attract the more consumers, and then we also invest more there. And at the same time, we could also see the overall competitive edge is quite obvious and quite fierce. So we also haven't got the overall products to have that, and the overall competitive edge is quite slow.
So we are still quite confident that with adjustment, we could also use our overall competitive edge. We could have something even better than the competition. So the next thing is for China region, for the competitive edge, could also have the rat race being circulated there. So we can see that more and more consumers are all going there, so especially to do the presence in the APAC market. So this has also given us a lot of driving force, and therefore, as an APAC, we can see that we are a lot more like an emerging force. We also hope that for new participants, we could also show some new innovation, and then for this original brand presence, we could do certain impact on that.
And for the past few years, for all those companies to study of and explore the overseas markets, we are having some early start advantages. So for this early stage presence on our global advantage, this is also like our advantage in here. So with this trend and then competitive edge, we also could have this overall challenge to be overcome and have a sustainable growth and development. So please also broadcast the way of proposing a question on the telephone line.
So all the investors and analysts, if you would like to propose a question, please press star and one. So now let's have Mr. Wang Wenzhong from CITIC Securities.
Hello, everybody.
Hello, I can hear you, Wenzhong.
To all the leaders, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. I have two small questions I would like to ask you. The first one is, for the management team, how do you expect for 2024 or APAC? We also can see that what is the overall proportion for SN, and how do we sync this SN's position in the overall group?
This is also about this is different category, and for all the different products, how do you do this spin-off?
Okay, for this question, we would like to invite Leon, the financial officer, to answer the question. So thank you, Wenzhong.
For 2024... So for this SN APAC in 2024, and our position for that in the group, now let's first check 2023. For basic sourcing service, and then this is only took about 4.6%. For 2023, the 6.6%-10.6%. So there are several different reasons. The first one is the cordless vacuum cleaner. The sales growth has already got this organic growth for us and given us the confidence. And then we already can see that...
For 2022, we only had Japan as a sales, and for some other different regions. We already can say that for 2024, for this consolidated sheet, for this overall growth compared to 2023, it is slowed down, and then it is still on the increase. So we already can say that the income, we expect to have a certain improvement. So with Joyoung's improvement, we think that it is still like quite a small amount. So for 2024, for SN's revenue, we expect it will remain consistent with 2023. Then what you mentioned is about the category for 2023. For the entire cleaning category, taking the third-party income of SN APAC, it takes about 70%.
So for kitchen, home appliance is about more than 20%, and we think in 2024, with Ninja gradually explore that. And for Australia and New Zealand, they could have this further increase, and then for the overall proportion of the sales could also be increased. And we could also see that for styling products, for this new category portion. So we can already see that for this exploration, we expect it will have a very big percentage because of the emerging development. Thank you for the question.
About the domestic sales for the Joyoung segment, we know that in 2024, the ODM business had been reduced a little bit compared to 2023 in Joyoung segment. So my question is that what is the reason for such a down-regulation? And also, we know that Joyoung is a very important segment for JS Global, and it also contributed to a high percentage of our total business. So what's your take on internal sales of Joyoung? What's your plan for the future, and how would you deal with the possible change of the ODM in the global markets?
Because previously, you may have mentioned that there is a more ferocious competition in the domestic market and some changes of the channels, and also the general growth of the domestic small appliance market is not so positive. So my question is that, how do you deal with those challenges facing the changes of the market?
Thank you, Wenzhong, for your question. I'd like to invite Kan, Financial Director of Joyoung, to answer this question.
Thank you, Mars. As for your question, let's first take a look at the ODM target down-regulation. Now, on the one hand, I hope that the investors can understand that-
In the beginning of every year, the related party transaction is usually of a fixed percentage, but it does not mean that this will be the actual result, or it does not mean that the target is only limited by that. Based on the previous year's situation, say, in 2023, in the mid-year announcements, we also have an upper regulation of the performance. So this announcement is not equal to the whole year guidance. Behind the related party transactions, we had consistently showcased our capabilities in R&D. In new categories, we also have certain expansions, so we will continuously leverage our technology advantages to acquire more customers and to achieve a longer term development. As for your second question, you may care a lot about our 2024 direction of development.
I'd like to, first of all, take this opportunity to introduce you our development in internal or domestic sales. As you can see, indeed, we still have a downward trend in the market. For the domestic sales, on the one hand, we will continue to develop the high quality products and continue to develop our serious product, and to have a further extensions of the product portfolio. In 2023, in space technology and the Roam Life series, we have greatly differentiated our technologies and also optimized our customer experience, and differentiated our stylings and designs. Those products we have launched have been well received by the customers on the market, and there was a great growth in sales. Observing the trend of sales, we believe that they will continue to be popular on the market.
Based on our previous experience, in 2024, we will continue to innovate on those products and further improve our performance growth. Also in water purifier and cleaner, we in 2023, with the transformation, we had achieved a high retail growth rate, which was higher than the market average. This had boosted our confidence, and we will continue in 2024 to develop the new products, develop new channels in the new categories to achieve a bigger growth, and to further seize the opportunities of the growth in the new categories. In terms of the channels in 2023, the main direction of the transformation was to focus more on the retail and to increase the percentage of D2C. In Q4 last year, we have seen great results with such adjustments.
And on the one hand, the D2C percentage have increased, and also the retail business, compared with the market average, there is a big improvement. So all of these were the progresses we have made in 2023 after the initial transformation, and so we will, based on that, continue to deepen our transformation in 2024, and this was also the source of our confidence. And we will also take advantage of our retail capabilities and our D2C expertise accumulations to empower our distributors and help them to also improve their performance, so that we are able to grow both in distributor side and in D2C. This is my answer to this question. Thank you.
Thank you for the answer. Very clear. No more questions from me.
Operator?
Let's welcome Sakura Tao.
Thank you for the presentation. I am, Sakura from CICC. I have two questions.
The first is about the dividend distribution, and there is no dividend distribution in the period end, but in the interim period, there is a dividend distribution, so what's your consideration behind that? And another question is, as you mentioned, that we may continue to expand. So for this year and beyond, what's your plan for the dividend distribution?
Thank you, Sakura, for your question. Well, for dividend distribution, I'd like to first ask you to review the past two times of dividend distribution and also introduce you our plans for the future. In 2022, there was no annual dividend distribution, because in 2023, we would have a spin-off, and in order to maintain the stability of the balance sheet and to meet the requirements of the regulators, we suspended that.
In 2023, after the spin-off, there is no big expenditure plans in the coming half year, therefore, we have interim dividend distribution. For 2023 full year dividend distribution, we also suspended it because of two reasons. One reason is that Joyoung subcontinent is one part of the plan, and after three years of the structural adjustment, it's expected that in 2024 on the product end and the marketing end, we will have some bigger campaigns, and we do need the sufficient capital support for that, therefore, we had to reduce the dividend distribution for the Joyoung segment. And that is one reason. And on the other hand, the JS Global have a smooth transition in APAC region, and we have accelerated our development in APAC.
We also have seen some results in 2023, but there are a lot to remain to be done. But also, we have more confidence in our investment in APAC region. So in 2024, we still need to enhance our capital investment in APAC, especially on HR marketing and the system constructions. All that requires more capital support, and the purpose is to have a more pipeline in products, and we will have a bigger potential in our development in APAC. And as for when we will have a future dividend to pay out, what will be the policy for the future? We still need to check out the development progress of the Joyoung segment and the SharkNinja in APAC. And based on our development, we would like to have a balance between the business development and the dividend payout.
So the board will focus on the long-term robust development of the company and, to make a decision that is of the best interest of the shareholders, and this is what we plan at the moment. So still, it will be based on our operational development, and we do not have a very clear guidance as for the dividend payout for future for you right now. Thank you.
Okay, thank you for the answer. I have a second question, which is about our development of APAC market. So could you please introduce the small home appliances in Southeast Asia or in APAC as a whole? Because on TikTok, some of the popular small home appliances might be of the entry-level ones, with a relatively lower price.
So could you introduce your plan for the small home appliances in APAC, and will there be any limitations to the price and gross profit margins? And we also noticed that there are many, many players in APAC who want to participate in a competition. And in China, we also have many other companies who wanted to penetrate into the market. So can you share with us your understanding of the competition in the future?
Thank you for the question. In my presentation, I also had mentioned about the ferocious competition in APAC region. There are more and more players in the market, and I believe that gradually, we will see a new competition landscape, and it will be even more fierce, and this is unavoidable.
That's why we need to make a more solid investment, and that's also why we made such a decision of investing more on it. And Temu and TikTok is not our major sales platforms, and in Japan, 90% of the channels are physical, offline stores, mainly the home appliances shopping malls, and most of the Japanese consumers would go there to buy. And whereas in South Korea, online channel was more dominant, so in different countries, the situation differs. And in Temu and TikTok, maybe in Singapore and South Korea, we will have a further explorations, and we will also pay close attention to the development of various channels based on our brand positioning and market strategies. So currently, these platforms are not our core channels based on as in positioning.
Especially in Japan and Australia, which contributes to the largest percentage of our sales. I'm not sure whether I have fully answered the question, Sakura.
Yes, thank you, Mars. That's all for me. Thank you.
All right, operator, please continue. Any other questions from dialing in? Can you introduce the way to dial in again?
Hello, everyone. If you want to answer the question, please press star one. To wait in the queue, press star and the number one, and after hearing a sound, please start your question.
All right. From online chat, and I also have seen some of the questions. Richard asked about our outlook for the gross margin profit, and who are our main competitors in China, and who are our competitors in APAC?
Well, I'd like to ask our Financial Director, Leon, to answer the question about gross profit margin, and Kenny from Joyoung, please answer the question about our competitor landscape. Leon, first. Thank you,
Richard, for the question. In terms of the gross profit margin, in the past, in 2024, I believe that it will remain flat. It's just like 2023 was flat with 2022. There are multiple factors influenced in GPM, such as accessing the new categories, the mixture, and the product launch in different markets. So, of course, different products have different GPM, and we believe that in 2024 will be flat as 2023. Kenny?
All right. As for the question of the competitors in China and APAC, we can break it down. First, the small kitchen appliances.
The conventional competitors include Midea, and Supor, and Joyoung is important leading brand in this segment, and over the past few years, we have seen the growth of the new brands, and we also have seen Bear. And those different brands have different advantages and business models. So in new channels, we do have some competitive edges, and those smaller brands mainly market on the internet, and they go through those niche segment.
So the next thing is about this cleaning category, as we said, for 2024, as a very important direction. So for here, we can already see that we also have a lot of different clients, for example, like, Tineco and some other things. We will also carry on using our own advantage, like our different things is also like facilitating our overall growth. And no matter is about the competitive landscape, we would like to stress that for the entire product and for the systematic, innovative accumulation, we have about 30 years of the experience. We also have a lot of successful experiences. No matter what the channel and the opportunities change, we think we will still remain competitive.
Thank you, Kenny. So for APAC, you can see the entire overall.
So Dyson has already been our main competitive counterpart, so we will meet, like, Hitachi in Japan. In Australia, we have Breville. And we also have some different international brands. So now, for this overall competitor, still is led by Dyson. And we can already see for all those telephone, and do you have some other questions or not?
So hello, everybody. Do you want to propose a question? So first, star and then number one. So now we will have Fan Xiaoli.
It's from Guotai Junan Securities, I'm Fan Xiaoli. So I have two different questions, and the first one is still about this overseas category. So for this overseas market, is this mainly centered on Japan? And we can already see for Ninja, it has already got the blender, and for Ninja and Shark.
So for all those New Year promotions, so what are the overall challenges and the changes? This is the first one.
So for APAC, for 2024 new products and the strategies, for the overall thing, we can already tell that for different productions, and we have this tailor-made, localized ones, and to understand their pain points. And for SN, for all the different promotion, we can already see that this is still a lot, and I cannot tell you when will we promote that and what product will that be. And for APAC, we can already see that this will be promoted in later half of the year. So for all the different categories, we could also pay attention to that.
Okay, thank you, Xiaoli.
Okay, thank you.
So this is very clear, and the second little question is about for Australia, and New Zealand, and, Malaysia. So we have already got this, direct sales. So what is that? And we already can say that, do we have all the different ones, and, this is the second one for these different categories, anything different from there?
So I will have Leon to share with you. And then for Malaysia, Singapore, and, New Zealand, Australia, for the different changes in 2023, we can already see that because-... All the different improvement is actually a little bit, and then we also have something to do with that. And we also could see that, we can see that for all the different markets, we need to build our brand awareness.
So if you go to Singapore and Malaysia, you ask them, ask the consumers, they don't know what the brand is, and maybe for all the different four markets, we are still investing there. And we could also say that the most important thing is Australia. So their difference is more close to the Western consumers. So when you do this standardized products, this is easier to have it in Australia, but for the rest of the markets, they all have their specific features. And just like what Matt said, so with this, Joyoung, so development will also have this APAC-specific product marketing and promotion. Okay? So thank you, Xiaoli, and because of limited time, I also would like to give you some new things.
We can already see that the last one is about Ivan Du, and so we also can see that why they are performing so well for this vacuum cleaner in Japan. So the same thing, can it be expanded to Japan for the newly expanded market? Well, they also use vacuum cleaner as a key core products. So for this, I would also like to answer this, and I also would say that so the reason why, because we have already done a lot of different ones, and on the one hand, the first one is actually it's lightweight, and then there's a big suction, and they also need to be catering to the appearance preferences of the consumers, and we also need to attract them. And for our marketing model, we need to do some innovative ways.
These are also with the consumer insights and the preferences. No matter is about this EVOPOWER SYSTEM NEO or Clean Sense IQ, so we all have already lightened the overall weight to be catering to the Japanese consumers for their uses. We also have this self-dust collection, and for the zero winding of the hair, we also can say that this is the reason why we would have this very good improvement of this cordless vacuum cleaner. We also have something that are not very good, and we still have a certain expansion. This is also for us to make some more efforts. Whether this could be copied to other different markets, I think Joyoung has always been consumer-centered, and we have already seen that Joyoung has always used the health and innovation as a DNA.
So we think Joyoung would definitely like, cater to the consumers' needs based on their demands, and then to expand it to the markets. And we already can say that whether this is about, vacuum cleaner, the key push is still study on that, so we will also have as like a kitchen home appliance, this starting point. And we also could see that whether we have some new categories as a starting point, and, I also hope to be more tailor-made, and I also hope this could have solve your question.
Thank you, Ivan. And I also would like to invite Madam Han to make a very short conclusion for today's presentation.
Okay, thank you so much for your questions, and we also have a lot of issues that everybody cares for, and this is also like in line with our focuses as the management team and the key work, generally speaking, for 2023, for this JS Global's overall team. We have already finished some competitive and challenging work after this spin-off, and we also have successfully completed the management switch of SharkNinja APAC. So 2024 is the first year of our focus on APAC. No matter for Joyoung or SharkNinja APAC, this year is a brand-new year for a brand-new start. We are fully aware that the road ahead is full of challenges and fierce competition. However, for all the management are full of confidence in improving the business performance of Joyoung and development of SharkNinja APAC, we are all with a very high confidence.
I also hope that with our efforts, we can continuously bring innovative small household appliances that could improve the quality of life to consumers and create value for investors. Thank you so much.
Thank you. So that's all for today's presentation. Thank you. Thank you so much.