Dear investors, analysts, and friends from the capital markets, good day. Thank you for attending TUHU's 2024 annual result investor and analyst conference. I'm Chen Zhe, Head of Investor Relations and Company Secretary. This result conference is being held via a remote teleconference. Now, please allow me to introduce the management team attending today's event. They are Mr. Chen Min, the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of TUHU, Mr. Zhang Zhisong, Chief Financial Officer of TUHU. Before officially starting the conference, please take a moment to carefully read the disclaimer displayed on the screen. By participating in this conference, which includes this presentation, or by reading the presentation materials, all attendees are deemed to have agreed to be bound by the restrictions outlined in the disclaimer. This conference provides simultaneous interpretation in English.
Investors joining via phone can press the asterisk key followed by the number four to switch to the English channel. Online participants can click the globe icon on the screen to change the language. The conference will consist of four parts. First, Mr. Chen Min will present an overview of the company's business performance and progress in 2024. Next, Mr. Zhang Zhisong will review the company's overall financial performance and the key highlights for 2024. Finally, we will reserve time for the management team to answer questions from investors and analysts attending online. If you would like to ask a question, please click the raise hand button in the meeting system. Now, let's first invite Mr. Chen Min, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, to present an overview of the company's overall operations and business progress in 2024. Mr. Chen, please.
Dear investors, analysts, and friends from the capital market, good day. I'm Chen Min. Thank you for joining TUHU 2024 Annual Result Conference. For us, as well as many Chinese enterprises, the past year of 2024 has been one filled with both challenges and opportunities. As the internal and external economic environment became increasingly complex, the consumer market faced significant downward pressure due to insufficient demand. The automotive service industry also experienced a slowdown in growth, with weaker players exiting the market at an accelerated pace, leading to a higher degree of market concentration. However, a series of incremental policy measures introduced by the government in the second half of the year provided a much needed opportunity for market recovery.
Throughout this year, we have actively aligned with market trends by introducing more products that cater to consumers' demand for cost-effectiveness and variety, while also continuously enhancing the service quality of our offline store network and improving our operational capabilities. By constantly strengthening our efforts in user engagement, service offerings, supply chain system, franchise management, and the application of new technologies, we have further solidified TUHU's position as a leading online and offline integrated automotive service platform in China throughout 2024. Now, let's take a look at the numbers. In terms of financial performance, we've achieved a total annual revenue of CNY 14.8 billion in 2024, representing an 8.5% year-over-year increase compared to 2023. Amid a challenging economic environment, we remained committed to providing consumers with high-value automotive products and services.
While this strategy led to a decrease in our average transaction value, it reinforced our market position and the customer's trust. However, by continuously deepening our supply chain capabilities, enhancing our bargaining power with upstream suppliers, and optimizing our product structure, combined with improvements in management efficiency and putting leverage, our company achieved an adjusted net profit of CNY 620 million in 2024, marking a 29.7% year-over-year increase. We also generated CNY 460 million in free cash flow and ended the year with a total cash balance of CNY 7.5 billion, ensuring sufficient financial reserves to navigate any market challenges. Our user-centric business strategy led to rapid user growth in 2024. By the end of December 2024, TUHU's registered users had reached nearly 140 million, with more and more car owners choosing TUHU as their go-to platform for daily vehicle maintenance.
As of the end of 2024, the total number of transaction users in the past 12 months reached 24.1 million, a significant 24.8% increase year-over-year, setting a new record in recent years. In terms of both registered users and annual transaction users, TUHU firmly holds the leading position in the automotive service market. We've also been actively expanding our presence in the new energy vehicle service by launching more attractive and diverse products and services, accelerating our brand recognition among emerging consumer groups. By the end of 2024, NEV users accounted for 11% of our total transacting user base, a proportion that has remained in sync with China's overall NEV ownership growth in recent years. This reflects our approach and our positioning in the market. It also represents our long-term commitment to investing in future trends.
On the store expansion front, we've remained committed to our strategic goals by continuously expanding our workshop network. We not only increased our market share in already covered cities, but also expanded into new regions and lower-tier markets to bridge service gaps. By the end of 2024, we had established a total of 6,874 TUHU workshop stores nationwide, with a net addition of 965 stores throughout the year. This further strengthened our position as the largest automotive service chain platform in China, continuously widening the gap with our nearest competitors. Currently, stores in Tier 2 and lower-tier cities account for 58% of our total store network, and we are gradually expanding from cities into township areas. Despite the dynamic market environment and our rapid expansion strategy, our stores have maintained solid profitability and a stable margin of safety.
As of December last year, over 90% of TUHU workshop stores that had been in operation for more than six months remained profitable. Overall, we observed a decline in consumer confidence across the market, which has further accelerated the restructuring and transformation of the automotive service industry. In recent years, under the dual impact of a decline in consumer spending and the rise of new energy vehicles, the once-dominant 4S dealership network has been shrinking at an accelerated pace. According to the industry statistics, more than 4,000 4S dealership outlets exited the market in 2024. Additionally, data from the China Automobile Dealers Association shows that the proportion of loss-making automobile dealerships has remained above 40% for three consecutive years. This means that nearly half of the existing 4S dealerships are struggling and are at constant risk of closure.
Against the backdrop of a slowing automotive service market, the independent auto repair sector has undergone significant changes. Unlike previous years, where the number of newly opened and closed stores remained relatively balanced, 2024 saw signs of negative growth in the sector. Store closures surged dramatically, while the number of new openings dropped sharply. Across the country, reports of a wave of store closures emerged, with many businesses struggling to survive. However, this industry consolidation has also led to increased market concentration, creating more opportunities for leading players. In 2024, thanks to our convenient, high quality, and attractive user experience, as well as our efficient, stable, and technologically advanced operational advantages, we successfully attracted more users and franchise partners. This allowed us to achieve counter-trend growth in store numbers, further widening the gap with our other industry players and solidifying our leading positions.
Now, let's take a look at our strong user growth and deep retention. In 2024, TUHU continued to refine its user operations. Achieving rapid user growth and deep retention through effective multi-channel engagement, a comprehensive benefit system, and a diverse range of service offerings, we further enhanced our brand appeal and user stickiness. First, we continuously optimized our user experience of our proprietary products. The TUHU Car Maintenance app constantly ranked among the top in the shopping category on the App Store. We also actively embrace the technologies and advancements in technology, becoming one of the first in the industry to introduce AI-powered customer service tool to enhance user experience. In 2024, our AI-powered customer service handled nearly 100,000 daily interactions. At the start of 2025, we successfully completed the localized deployment of AI models such as DeepSeek-R1 and V3, integrating AI technology into our core business operations.
As we continue implementing AI across key business processes, users can expect to experience more AI-driven applications on our platform throughout 2025. In terms of new channel marketing, we actively expanded our presence on Douyin and various content creation platforms, implementing diversified promotional strategies to reach a broader audience. Our operational ecosystem on Douyin has matured significantly, leveraging a combination of an account-based engagement, live streaming, and local lifestyle services. This approach successfully attracted a large number of users, leading to a two-fold increase in new customers for our tire replacement services through this single channel in 2024. Additionally, we maintained the top position on Douyin's e-commerce GMV rankings for automotive parts and accessories. Furthermore, our reputation management efforts on Xiaohongshu, The Little Red Book, have yielded initial success, helping TUHU build a more well-rounded brand image while exploring a more diverse user base.
In terms of existing customer operations, we actively introduced various membership benefits. Among them, our super membership program has surpassed 760,000 active members, with cardholders generating an average annual ARPU, average revenue per user, that exceeds non-cardholders by approximately CNY 500 , while their purchase frequency increased by about three times. Additionally, the issuance of a TUHU car wash card has approached 1.2 million, reflecting a 70% year-over-year growth. These effective operational strategies and refined user management approaches have significantly enhanced customer loyalty and transaction frequency, reinforcing long-term commitment to TUHU brand. Furthermore, we proactively expanded our range of service offerings to comprehensively meet customers' automotive needs. We enriched our car wash service portfolio and significantly upgraded in-store car detailing capabilities.
As of now, TUHU has established over 5,700 service centers, workshop stores, and partnered with 22,000 affiliated stores nationwide to provide car wash services, greatly improving regional coverage and user convenience. In addition, we have aligned with the new energy vehicle trend by successfully launching our EV charging services. To date, we have integrated approximately 70,000 charging stations across more than 300 cities nationwide, expanding our service scope in the NEV sector. Thanks to a series of refined operational initiatives, by the end of 2024, our unaided brand awareness had steadily risen to 52%, surpassing 60% in top-tier cities. Our user base also reached new heights. In 2024, TUHU's app recorded 12 million monthly active users, while transaction users exceeded 24 million, reflecting a year-over-year growth of approximately 24%.
At the same time, our customer satisfaction with orders on TUHU platform exceeded 95% in 2024, while the annual repurchase rate combined to 62.3%, representing year-over-year increase of 2 percentage points-3 percentage points respectively. Our store network experienced further expansion in 2024. By year-end, we had established 6,800 TUHU workshop stores nationwide, achieving a net increase of 965 stores within the year. This expansion continuously enhanced our regional coverage and deepened our penetration from cities to counties, towns, and villages. As of December, TUHU workshop stores were present in 318 prefectural-level administrative regions and 1,759 county-level regions. We have now reached over 66% coverage in counties with a passenger vehicle population exceeding 20,000. In provinces with a high concentration of stores such as Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, and Hunan, our user penetration rate increased rapidly.
In 2024, the number of TUHU workshop stores in Guangdong exceeded 1,000, making it the first province to surpass this milestone. Meanwhile, in Shanghai, we now have approximately 400 stores, achieving a nearly 30 percentage user penetration rate, thereby expanding the growth potential of individual cities. In 2024, we expanded our store network beyond mainland China for the first time. As of now, two TUHU workshop stores have officially opened in Hong Kong, marking the beginning of our efforts to replicate our domestic operational and supply chain expertise in overseas market. For store expansion, our primary strategy has been market penetration into lower tier areas. For four consecutive years, over 60% of our new stores have been in lower tier markets. Our focused expansion in Northwest and Southwest China has resulted in simultaneous growth in both store numbers and user penetration in these regions.
In 2024, the number of TUHU workshop stores in Northwest and Southwest China grew by 30% and 24% year-over-year, respectively. Sichuan Province became the first in the Western region to surpass 300 stores. Our expansion efforts have extended beyond county level cities and now penetrate township level markets. We launched 10,000 Towns 10,000 Stores initiative, offering tailored franchise incentives for underdeveloped townships in central and western China. Following its launch, the number of contracted stores in independent townships in these regions grew by approximately 48% year-over-year. Moving forward, we will continue to execute our market penetration strategy, bringing TUHU workshop stores to every car owner's doorstep, ensuring seamless access to our services wherever we are.
In 2024, we increased our overall online and offline promotional expenses by approximately CNY 250 million throughout the year, bringing the average marketing investment per store to CNY 162,000, an increase of CNY 14,000 compared to the previous year. This tangible financial commitment was made to help our franchise stores navigate market cycles smoothly. On the revenue side, we enhanced our store profitability through multiple initiatives, including management fee reduction incentives for high performing stores and technician bonus rewards. Throughout the year, the total financial support allocated to stores amounted to approximately CNY 100 million. On the support side, we strengthened in-store training by technical supervisors and enhanced operational oversight through inspection and assistance programs. Additionally, we introduced more comprehensive online technician trainings and a certification badge program to improve the store operational and service capabilities.
These measures demonstrate TUHU's commitment and responsibility as a strong supporter of our franchise partners. They also reflect our dedication to fostering a sustainable ecosystem of collaboration and mutual success while continuously delivering value to customers. Beyond our support policies, we also place great emphasis on store operations, leveraging comprehensive management empowerment strategies to enhance operational standards and ensure the long-term sustainability of our stores. On the one hand, we continue to implement positive incentives for franchisees, encouraging them to improve service quality and management standards through initiatives such as Top Rated Stores program and recognition for outstanding franchisees. On the other hand, we intensified compliance management and enforcement measures against violations. By optimizing scheduling algorithms and upgrading store visit tools, we significantly improved supervisory efficiency, increasing the average monthly inspection frequency per store by about 30%.
With AI-driven quality control upgrades, we effectively combined AI inspections with manual audits, enhancing overall quality assurance efficiency. Additionally, we streamlined offline order processes to strictly control unnecessary upselling. As a result, by the end of the year, customer complaints related to aggressive sales tactics at TUHU stores had dropped by approximately 86% compared to early 2024. Strict compliance management and targeted issue resolution significantly reduce store violations, improving customer experience and brand reputation while ensuring company's long-term sustainable growth. This success is attributed to our systemic store operations management, the implementation of franchisee support policies, and the dedicated efforts of our franchise partners. Throughout 2024, TUHU workshop stores achieved the same-store user coverage growth of over 5% year-on-year, making us one of the few companies in the industry to see a positive increase in store foot traffic. Our stores also maintained profitability significantly above the industry average.
As of December 2024, over 90% of TUHU franchise stores operating for more than six months were profitable. Additionally, nearly 50% of franchisees on TUHU platform now own more than two stores, reflecting strong confidence in TUHU's future business prospects and their commitment to long-term collaboration. In terms of product and services, our core tire protection business continued to optimize supply chain value, constantly identifying and fulfilling diverse user needs. In the tire and chassis business, amid a sluggish market in 2024, many high-end international tire manufacturers faced significant customer attrition and traditional dealership channels declined. TUHU, however, became their primary growth driver in the Chinese market. In 2024, we deepened our collaboration with these premium global brands. For instance, Michelin and Bridgestone saw their tire sales on the TUHU platform grow by over 60% and 50% year-over-year respectively.
Continental Germany partnered exclusively with TUHU to launch their ExtremeContact XC7 series, featuring self-sealing and noise reduction technologies. This marked the first time Continental introduced its top-tier flagship products in China. For domestic brands, we further strengthened our proprietary brand strategy by expanding our product lineup and leveraging deep collaborations with leading suppliers and ensured sustainable product quality and sustainable cost advantages. in 2024, building on our Dongfeng and Feiyue brands, we introduced the upgraded Dongfeng Victory and Feiyue Pinnacle series, enhancing our brand matrix while leveraging and elevating the market positioning of domestic brands. In terms of the maintenance business expansion, our proprietary brand portfolio has further expanded in the maintenance sector, following our exploration of high-end product lines such as Bosch motor oil and the Saudi Aramco in the first half of 2024.
We partnered with Castrol in the second half of the year to launch the Castrol RSpeed Formula RS Series racing grade motor oil. The product quickly gained traction, surpassing 50,000 units in sales during the Double 11 shopping festival. In terms of innovative products, we collaborated with leading motor oil brands to pioneer hybrid-specific motor oils, which received an enthusiastic market response. In 2024, sales of hybrid motor oil grew by more than 270% year-on-year. Other maintenance accessories such as batteries, air conditioning filters, and wiper blades also achieved impressive performance throughout the year. In particular, our battery business benefited from an improved service network and enhanced inventory capabilities, enabling us to introduce the 28-minute delivery guarantee service. This initiative now covers 40 cities nationwide and has served over 200,000 car owners.
Thanks to our comprehensive efforts across business lines, the share of proprietary products in our total product revenue has been rising annually. In 2024, this proportion exceeded 30% and continued to grow rapidly. The expansion of proprietary products not only strengthened our brand presence in consumers' mind, but also creates greater profit growth potential for TUHU in the future. Now let's move on to car grooming business growth. TUHU's car grooming business saw significant expansion in 2024. For light grooming services, we increased service capacity by adding more workstations and staff at our stores. By the end of the year, over 5,700 TUHU workshop stores nationwide were equipped with this service to provide car washing, waxing, and other light grooming services. We also introduced a standardized tiered structure for car grooming services, launching offerings such as the 10-minute TUHU express wash, 30-minute TUHU standard wash, and 60-minute premium wash.
These services were well-received in the market. With increased service availability and refined product operations, the number of online transactions for light grooming services grew by over 60% year-over-year in 2024. The daily peak of online orders neared 120,000, nearly 1.9 times the highest single-day record of the previous years. For deep grooming services, we intensified the development of a proprietary brand and accelerated product iteration to better meet users' diverse and personalized services. In mid-2024, we launched new brands such as Victory, Chang'e, Amber, filling a gap in the mid to high-end automotive film market. As a result, the share of proprietary brands among high-end deep grooming customers increased from a single digit percentage to 16% by year-end. What's worth mentioning is our grooming service.
New car users account for 70% of light grooming service and 40% of deep grooming service, while new energy vehicle users make up 27%. The expansion of our grooming service not only fueled new growth, but also enabled TUHU to reach previously underserved customer segments, including new car and new energy vehicle owners, capitalizing on industry tailwinds. As the number of aging vehicles continue to rise, the demand for quick repair service is becoming increasingly apparent. Leveraging our extensive data history, we focused on strengthening more than 10 high-demand service categories. On the one hand, we improved the product availability by expanding upstream partnerships and developing proprietary brands, increasing the in-stock rate for quick repair parts to 80%. Now, 80% of users can find the repair parts they need on TUHU platform.
On the other hand, we implemented an intelligent inventory distribution model and deepened collaborations with upstream brands, increasing product availability for quick repair services by more than three percentage points in the second half of the year. In the meanwhile, we recognized the shift in customer behavior, where more users now browse repair options online before making a purchase. We optimized the online ordering process for quick repair service. This enhancement made it easier for users to find the right products and contributed to 50% year-on-year increase in online quick repair transactions in 2024. Following a series of operational improvements, quick repair services users now account for over 10% of our total transaction users, and revenue from quick repair services contributed more than 20% to offline store earnings.
As market demand continues to expand, quick repair services are poised to generate even greater revenue and profit growth for TUHU and its partner stores. In terms of business, now let's take a look at new energy-related business. In 2024, the number of annual transaction users for new energy vehicle on the TUHU platform increased to 2.7 million, a year-on-year growth of 105%. This proportion of new energy vehicle owners among the platform's total transaction users has now exceeded 11%, further consolidating our position as the industry leader in the number of new energy vehicle users on independent third-party platforms. In response to the demand for new energy, we have specifically developed many products.
For example, in the tire business, products such as quiet tires or silent tires, which are more suitable for the heavy load and tire noise reduction needs of new energy vehicle, saw 173% of year-on-year increase in sales. In the modification and automotive product supermarket business, many new products such as chassis protectors, electric side steps, and TPE floor mats, which are favored by new energy vehicle owners, were introduced, leading to a 127% year-on-year growth in transaction users for this category. The gradual growth of our new energy charging business in the second half of this year further expanded our business scope. We have also continuously invested in the development of the three electric business. By the end of 2024, the number of electricians with the TUHU system holding low voltage electrician certificates had exceeded 800, a year-on-year growth of 55%.
TUHU is also the only automotive service company in the industry to participate in the development of two national standards: technical requirements for new energy vehicle maintenance, and technical conditions for the completion and delivery of a power battery maintenance led by the Ministry of Transport's Research Institute of Highway. In 2024, we've also launched the implementation of the three electric testing business. By introducing online interfaces and equipping offline facilities, the three electric testing service has been piloted in five cities. In terms of our three electric maintenance, while continuing to undertake warranty business, we've also gradually begun exploring a business model for out-of-warranty battery repairs based on our past repair experience with 40 different brands of power batteries. This simultaneous development of battery testing and maintenance services presents an opportunity to form a new business path in the future, driving the long-term growth of TUHU's new energy business.
Behind the stable and orderly operation of our front-end business is our strong warehousing and logistics system. By the end of 2024, we've established 30 regional warehouses, 606 front warehouses, and 243 self-distribution routes in collaboration with external carriers to provide service to nationwide stores and customers. This total area of our original warehouses increased by 30%, and we added approximately 100 new front warehouses, achieving more regional coverage and layout optimization. By the end of the year, our regional warehouse had been established in 29 provincial-level administrative regions across the country, and our front warehouses had achieved direct coverage of 74% of the workshop stores. Our self-distribution routes also covered more than 90% of our workshop stores in higher-tier cities. Last year, we made significant progress in both improving efficiency and reducing costs in our warehousing and logistics management.
By transforming into three-dimensional warehouses and introducing an up store, down peak model, we effectively improved the storage space efficiently. Throughout the extensive use of intelligent inventory planning, we achieved a simultaneous improvement in product availability rates and turnover efficiency. Moreover, through more refined operational management and system construction, we successfully reduced the costs and increased efficiency across the board. Reflecting the numbers, in 2024, our regional warehouses achieved a same-day or the next day delivery rate of 79%, and a delivery rate of 5 km within 30 minutes and 10 km within 60 minutes for front warehouses reached 70%, far surpassing industry standards. Meanwhile, our fulfillment cost rate dropped to 4.5%, optimized by about 0.5 percentage points year-on-year.
While actively developing the company's business, TUHU Auto Care, as a responsible enterprise, is also highly concerned with the development of the industry and society, and proactively participated in the public welfare. As an industry leader, TUHU actively participates in the formulation of industry standards and in contributing to the advancement of the industry. In 2024, TUHU participated in the formulation of two group standards, the new energy vehicle maintenance vocational skill evaluation specifications, and reliable auto repair certification evaluation standards, as well as two national standards, the new energy vehicle maintenance technical requirements, and power battery maintenance completion and delivery technical conditions. TUHU also helped establish the national smart new energy vehicle aftermarket industry enterprise integration community, actively assisting the industry in accelerating the improvement of new energy technology, upgrades, and service standardization to ensure the safety of the vehicle owners.
In January 2025, TUHU continued its no closing during Chinese New Year service for the ninth consecutive year. We adhere to the principle of not increasing prices, rejecting orders, or closing during the Spring Festival to provide more convenient and higher quality service experiences for consumers. In terms of disaster relief, during the heavy rains in the southern region in the second quarter and the typhoon in East China in September last year, TUHU launched emergency rescue hotlines in several affected cities. In January of this year, when a 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit Shigatse City, Xizang, TUHU quickly initiated disaster relief responses and donated funds for disaster relief and post-disaster reconstruction. In terms of social welfare, in July 2024, TUHU launched the Xizang educational assistant project, donating educational and living materials to local schools, building campus science corners, and installing sun protection devices such as heat insulation window films.
In January 2025, TUHU joined forces with its oil workshop stores to sign the Moss Flower Agreement, promising to provide fair employment opportunities to disabled individuals as employers and offering assistance within its capacity as a public service provider. We firmly believe that an enterprise with social responsibility can grow into a long-lasting one. TUHU is also committed to continuing to leverage its strength to contribute to the positive development of the industry and society. Thank you, everyone.
Now let's welcome Mr. Zhang Zhisong, CFO of TUHU, to share the company's financial performance for the year 2024. Mr. Zhisong, the floor is yours.
Before we dive into the overall financial performance review, let's first look at two key pillars that support our financial performance. Two major indicators on the supply and demand sides of the platform, transaction user count and store count.
In 2024, these two transaction indicators showed the same growth trend as in 2022 and 2023. First, regarding transaction users, in 2024, the number increased by 24.8% compared to the same period in 2023, reaching 24.1 million. It's worth mentioning that this year marked the first time the platform's transaction user scale surpassed 20 million. As you may recall from our mid-year performance, by June of this year, our rolling 12 months data had already surpassed 20 million, and this trend accelerated even further in the second half of the year. In the meantime, in terms of store count, as Chen Min just mentioned, we had a net increase of 965 stores, which aligns with our initial expectation of a net increase of around 1,000 stores for the year.
In fact, the actual number of newly opened stores exceeded this figure. As of this year, at the end of the year, the number of stores increased by about 13% compared to the end of last year, with over 560 new stores added in the second half of 2024. In terms of store distribution by city, we have further increased our presence in the lower tier markets. Next, let's review the overall revenue growth. In 2024, our revenue increased by 8.5%, reaching CNY 14.76 billion. Breaking it down by business segment, all of our sub-business segments achieved a year-on-year growth. Among the comprehensive automotive products and service segments, the two sub-segments with the highest revenue contribution, tire and chassis components, and vehicle maintenance, saw annual revenue growth of 10.4% and 9.9% respectively, both exceeding the overall company revenue growth rate.
Both the tire and chassis components business maintained a high growth rate in both the first and second halves of the year. Demand for the tire products and transaction volume continued to grow at a high rate. However, part of the revenue growth was offset by a decrease in the average transaction value. Meanwhile, the maintenance business, which is more sensitive to consumer spending, also saw continued growth in the transaction volume throughout the year. However, due to the wide range of sub-categories in maintenance services and the differing factors affecting each category, the overall growth was somewhat balanced out. One of the categories, especially the core oil category, was affected by the extended maintenance cycles. Additionally, some categories were impacted by our proactive efforts to address excessive sales promotion, which led to a slowdown in growth.
These factors, combined with a slight decrease in the average transaction value in our maintenance segment, offset the value contribution from the increase in transaction volume. In other automotive products and services, particularly the light and deep beauty or the light and deep grooming services, saw significant growth throughout the year, driving revenue growth in this segment. However, the slowdown in the growth of the car product supermarket category, which is currently undergoing restructuring, partially offset the overall revenue growth in this segment. In the auto part business segment, our small warehouse services continued to grow throughout the year, mainly driven by the further expansion of our factory stores coverage and the growth in coverage for quick repair categories. However, this segment still faces challenges from existing regional agent business.
Despite our strategic adjustments, their revenue continues to decline, offset the growth from the small warehouse services, leading to an overall growth of 1.9% in this segment for the year. Our platform business, which includes advertising, franchising, and other services, grew by 0.3% year-on-year. Breaking it down, revenue from franchise services grew by 7.5%, mainly due to the expansion of our stores and the improvement in single store profitability in the first and fourth quarter of 2024, which led to an increase in profit sharing. Advertising revenue increased by 17.9% year-on-year, mainly due to the strengthening of our brand, which provided more opportunities for collaboration and promotion with our supplier partners.
At the same time, our strategic exit from the new energy vehicle sales and used car business starting in 2023 led to a 40% decrease in other platform service revenues this year, which lowered the overall income of the advertising, franchise, and other service segments. Looking at gross profit, we also saw growth in gross profit and an increase in gross margin. In 2024, our overall gross profit increased by about 11.5%, reaching CNY 3.75 billion, the highest level in history. Gross margin rose from 24.7% in the same period last year to 25.4% this year, an increase of 70 basis points. Despite the impact of declining transaction value throughout the year, our comprehensive automotive products and services segment saw a 30 basis point increase in the gross margin for the entire year.
Breaking it down, the maintenance business contributed to the growth in gross margin with a 50 basis point increase, mainly due to the higher proportion of self-controlled and exclusive products in sales. The gross margin for the tire and chassis component segment decreased by about 120 basis points year-on-year, mainly due to two factors: the high gross margin base in the second half of 2023 and the impact of declining transaction value for tires in 2024. Although the proportion of exclusive and self-controlled products in the revenue increased and the cost of purchased products decreased, these improvements were not enough to fully offset the impact of the decline in transaction value. In other categories, excluding tire and maintenance, the growth margin for chassis parts increased by 270 basis points.
Meanwhile, in other business segments, the growth margin for the vehicle beauty and cleaning services saw a significant increase of over 400 basis points due to changes in the service offering. However, since its proportion in total revenue is still low, its contribution to the overall performance is relatively limited. Despite a drag from the decline in regional warehouse business, this business had low margins to begin with. As a result, after reduction of this segment, the overall growth margin for the auto part segment increased by more than 300 basis points for this year. As mentioned earlier, although we have launched more support policies for franchisees this year, the overall profitability of our franchisee services has maintained at a stable level.
At the same time, with the continued scaling down of our local force business and platform operations, such as strategies, reintroduction of new car sales last year, and the reduction in used business, the growth profit margin of our advertising franchisee and other platform revenue has still increased by about 280 basis points. On the operating expense side, the ratio of our total operating expenses to revenue has been continuously decreasing over the past four years. In 2024, this trend continued with the revenue of total revenue falling from 24.4% in 2023 to 23.6% for the full year, achieving a consecutive three-year decrease since 2021. Looking at the four different types of operating expenses, the decrease in the overall operating expense ratio this year was significantly contributed by the support expenditures and the general administrative expenses.
This was mainly due to the reduction in IPO-related costs compared to 2023, as well as the improvement in operational efficiency brought by the further application of new technologies such as intelligent customer service and AI-based offline management tools. At the same time, the proportion of expenses related to the marketing and promotional costs in the sales and marketing expenses has significantly increased this year, as Chen Min mentioned in the earlier business section. However, the logistics and fulfillment costs included in the sales and marketing expenses have been continuously optimized, partially offsetting the overall increase in the spending on promotions. Therefore, the overall proportion of sales and marketing expenses has seen a relatively limited increase. The ratio of R&D expenses to revenue remained largely the same as last year, mainly due to our increased focus on the application of new technologies and tools.
Additionally, to match team capabilities, we have appropriately enhanced the average qualification of our R&D personnel and increased spending on cloud services. Looking ahead, we are confident in continuing to move towards the long-term targets of reducing our operating expense ratio to revenue, as mentioned previously. From a profitability perspective, considering the increase in gross margin, the decrease in expense ratios, and other factors, the company's overall profitability improved further in 2024. The adjusted earnings before interest, tax, and depreciation were CNY 780 million, and the adjusted net profit was CNY 620 million. The adjusted net profit margin increased by approximately 70 basis points. Overall, the adjusted net profit increased by about 30%, and adjusted net profit margin reached 4.2%. In terms of cash, the company's free cash flow grew further in the first half of the year, increasing by approximately 15% compared to the same period last year.
Our full-year operating cash flow inflows reached CNY 1.3 billion, and the cash cycle improved to over 60 days, showing a significant improvement compared to 2023. This led to our total cash reserves reaching CNY 7.5 billion by the end of the year. The cash structure has also maintained the optimization strategy from the beginning of the year, which ensures the minimum safety margin for our liquid cash, while further reducing the proportion of restricted funds in the total cash reserves. This helps to increase the proportion of cash available for medium and long-term fixed income assets, optimizing the efficiency of our cash utilization. In terms of capital market, since the announcement of the HKD 1 billion buyback plan on March 15th, 2024, we've repurchased over 12.2 million Class A share using our own funds in the first half of 2024.
We used a total of HKD 204 million, approximately 1.5% of the total issued shares, and all of these shares have been canceled. Additionally, on June 25th, 2024, we announced the second phase of the post-IPO share plan and established an employee trust based on this plan to repurchase up to 33 million Class A shares. After the plan was announced, we began repurchasing shares through the trust in the second half of 2024. As of now, we've repurchased more than 1/3, or 11 million shares, accounting for about 1.4% of the total issued shares. As both the HKD 1 billion buyback plan and the second employee trust share plan have significant remaining capacity, we will continue to utilize our buyback plans and different buyback entities opportunistically, repurchasing shares in the market to enhance returns for our investors and shareholders. This concludes the financial report. Thank you, everyone.
Thank you, Zhisong, for your sharing.