It is time, so we would like to begin the FY 2022 Second Quarter Q&A Session for Institutional Investors. I am the moderator for today. I am Kobayashi from the Business Management Group. Sawada as well as Yanagisawa, as well as Director, CEO and COO Fuminori Hirose will be joining this session. We plan to wrap up the session at 6:20. Please use the Raise Your Hand button to let us know that you have a question, and please make sure to state your organization and name before you ask your question. Thank you. Mr. Kazahaya, please go ahead.
This is Kazahaya from Credit Suisse. Thank you, always. You are playing a pun on words in Japanese. Instead of romantic, you have marontic, which means, which refers to chestnuts. I did notice that. I have a question. The first question is about. You mentioned the next steps, like the offline store that you might be opening. What. Why have you decided to? What are some of the challenges? What are some of the thoughts that you had when you decided to embark on this offline project? That's the first question.
Thank you very much, Kazahaya-san. As I mentioned earlier, early November, we will be making an announcement. We will be able to share details at that time. What I can disclose right now is that we wanted to deliver things, clothing that are people's style, that look great on them. We want to offer services that will help people find their style, discover their style. Apologies, I can't really go into detail, but we would like to make announcement very soon.
Sorry, I have a follow-on. If we look at page 25, we see a big box. Is it something that's, like, that's going to be symbolic? Or is it going to be something that's going to be available nationwide? Can you talk about that?
We are already preparing our brick-and-mortar store within the urban area, within Tokyo. We can't go into detail about what we will be doing in that space.
All the analysts are looking forward to getting invited to the opening. The second point, PayPay Mall. I have a question about the PayPay Mall, especially when we think about the seasonality from first and second quarter.
Of course, if you look quarter-on-quarter, the GMV tends to drop during these seasons. Maybe if I didn't calculate it wrong, PayPay Mall from Q1 to Q2, I believe that the GMV grew Q -on -Q and the profitability as well. We're seeing different trends for PayPay Mall, different trends from even the fashion industry.
PayPay Mall seems like it's doing great, but can you let us know why that is the case?
Hirose can take you through that. Thank you.
Kazahaya-san, thank you very much. The second quarter for PayPay Mall. September, we had a Sunday on the fifth that landed on a Sunday, and that was an event. That's why you saw a peak in demand because of that. It was a promotional event that you didn't have last fiscal year.
That's right. The third question. I want to ask a different question about ZOZOCOSME. I look at the number of employees in first and second quarter. When we look at the number of employees, we feel that you haven't hired as many employees as you said you would. Are you going to be actively hiring? You mentioned that you'd be actively hiring engineers at the beginning of the year, but how is that going? Also, you did mention that you were going to invest in different areas this year. Have you been making those investments or is it going as planned? I just wanted to hear from you about your hiring plan and the investment.
In terms of investments, human resources, IT, and logistics, we've mentioned that previously. In terms of IT, I think it's the same for every company, but hiring, it has been difficult. We did set aside a specific budget for hiring and of course we want to continue to evaluate the engineers as well, fairly. We haven't really seen—the hiring has not been as steady to have such a major impact on the budget. I think I talked about this last time or the time before, but we are renewing the systems, back-end systems for ZOZOTOWN. The employees are working very hard and so the system update is doing very well.
It's not negative, but it's not as positive as we hope. In terms of logistics, I think this, we're going to be increasing going forward. Tsukuba 3 will have launched around this time next year. Of course, we're going to start hiring for the logistics centers starting around now. The second half you will see an increase in logistical employees.
Thank you very much. That's it from myself.
Thank you very much for your question. Next, Sato-san, please ask your question.
This is Sato. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. I have three general questions. GMV is doing very well. PayPayMall and ZOZOTOWN, both are growing in double digits, and it's quite stable, so I praise you for that. For the second half of the year, do you think that the momentum will be, the reopening is actually happening, people are going out, so maybe that's a tailwind for you as well. Can you tell us how you see the GMV trending in the second half of the year?
Thank you. With respect to the GMV, first quarter and second quarter, we have grown at around the same pace, so it has been growing steadily. Going forward, what will happen is the question. Honestly, we just want to meet the budget that we've announced, so we are going to increase our sales and GMV. Whether demand will go up or down is unforeseen, unknown for us. It's difficult to let you know what the trend will be in the second half.
Understood. If we look at the first half, it seems like PayPayMall, maybe it's not doing as well as you hope, but in October, they will be integrating Yahoo! Shopping and also PayPay Mall. Are there going to be any events that will accelerate your GMV on PayPayMall?
Are there any plans? Hirose can answer that question.
Sato-san, thank you very much. With respect to PayPayMall, after Yahoo! Shopping is integrated, of course for ZOZOTOWN, they've actually been supporting us very well and also on Sundays, they're having special events, so we're benefiting from that. Of course, the second half, we need to work even harder to achieve our target, but I don't know if Yahoo! is going to be offering additional support. I haven't heard. Of course, that's something that we hope will happen, but it's not really under our control, so it's hard to say.
Understood. The second question is about cosmetics. How is it going? Of course, it might not be really related, but Amazon and @cosme are working together. It seems like there's been some movement. Has there been any changes? Any comments or updates? Please let us know.
I can answer that question as well. Thank you. Cosmetics is doing well at @cosme and Amazon. Of course, we've heard that they're working together, but we don't think that it's really going to impact us. As you know, the brands, Aesop has opened in October, and we have a good portfolio of brands, so we're doing very well, we believe.
COSRX and Christmas season, you're going to have the holiday season coming up. So I'm hoping that the COSRX products are going to perform well on your platform. But do you think that those factors will help drive the GMV upwards?
Of course, October through December is a peak season for us and we have a lot of web commercials running right now and investing in promotions so that we can increase our GMV. Lastly, if we look at the first half, OPM is higher than the guidance.
You might have more budget than you thought you would, but for the second half, you're going to be investing more heavily in promotions and advertising. You had ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP as well, and you had a lot of spectators come to that championship, so I'm sure that the tickets covered a lot of the operational expenses, but you might have to do a lot of promotions, otherwise the OPM will continue to rise. Would it be okay to expect higher OPM for this fiscal year?
Yanagisawa-san, Yanagi-san can answer that question.
Sato-san, thank you for your question. As Sawada mentioned, the third and fourth quarter, we don't know how the GMV will grow or the demand will change. It's related to that. There's still a lot of uncertainties, so we can't say it too loudly, but we are doing very well. It's difficult to let you know what will happen going forward. Sorry.
Understood. Thank you. Sorry. Very last question. Golf. You said that you were able to have a full championship, and you had a one-day ticket as well. What was the spectatorship like? Did you expect more people to come or you know, you sold pizzas and beers for JPY 800 , and it seems like a lot of the merchandise or food and beverage was quite high. You might. I thought that you made a lot of money at the championship. What was it like?
I need to estimate the cost and everything, so if you can give us insight. JPY 800 for beer. I think if you go to the outdoor festival, it's around the same. I don't think it's necessarily more expensive than other festivals. Honestly, in terms of spectators, we didn't get as many spectators as we hoped. Of course, we saw more than in the past, but in terms of our expectations, it was slightly lower. Thank you.
Thank you. That's it. Thank you.
Thank you for your question. Oliver-san, please ask your question.
Okay. First question. Could you tell us about fashion ASPs? I think they will need to go up more than 3% or 5%, maybe more like 20%, given the weak currency. I think Uniqlo already raised by about 15%. What are the brands telling you about their plans to raise prices? That's my first question.
The current exchange rate, the Japanese exchange rate, is very weak. If you take that into consideration, Mr. Sawada said earlier that the average price has increased by about 3%-5%. I think it needs to increase by about 20%. I think Uniqlo has already increased it by about 15%. Have you heard anything from other brands?
Yes, thank you. Well, logically, I think it will be like that. It is true that there are differences between brands. It is true that brands that are selling at a high price because of their branding tend to have a higher price. On the other hand, brands that are not like that do not have to raise the price that much. It is true that there are a lot of such brands. It is ZOZO's strength to have a lot of different brands. It is not that we give up because there are expensive ones, but we buy the ones that are a little cheaper. That is my opinion.
Okay. Thank you. Second question. I tried to use PayPay Mall, but it's disappeared. What happens next? Are you worried about a bit of a drop-off on that platform?
What do you mean by disappeared?
The app is finished.
PayPay Mall. I tried to use PayPay Mall, but the app is no longer available. What do you think will happen in the future? How do you think the market will react?
Hirose.
Yes. PayPay Mall. Originally, PayPay Mall. Yahoo! was running Yahoo! Shopping and PayPay Mall. PayPay Mall was a mall where premium stores opened up. Yahoo! announced that they would merge the two. In October, they merged them in early October. PayPay Mall is no longer available. It was absorbed by Yahoo! Shopping. Yahoo! Shopping also changed the user interface to make it easier to use.
Okay. Thank you. Final question. What do you think about the government and the use of masks? Do you think the government will tell people they don't need to use masks anymore? Would that be how much impact do you think that would have on ZOZOCOSME?
はい。で、最後にですね、政府からもうマスク皆さんしなくていいですよっていうようなアナウンスが、今後あると思いますが、もしあった場合にはマスクをしなくてよくなったことによってZOZOCOSMEがどのどれぐらいの影響を、恩恵を受けるか教えてください。
なかなか難しいですけど、じゃあちょっと廣瀬くんいけますか。
はい、ありがとうございます。マスクをするのをやめるかどうかという判断はちょっと僕にはわからないです。なのでそこは政府判断というふうになると思うので、そこの件、あの意見は差し控えますが、じゃあマスクを仮にしなくなった場合、ZOZOCOSMEにどういう影響があるかというと、一般的に言って、マスクを、あの、女性がマスクをしている中で、一部あのメイクアップ商品とかですね、あまりあのする機会が減ったとかですね、そういったことがあると思いますので、マスクをしなくなると逆にそこが元に戻れば、まあZOZOCOSMEとしては追い風なのかなというふうに考えています。
Great. Thank you very much.
ご質問ありがとうございました。続きまして、金森様、ご質問をお願いいたします。
SMBC日興証券の金森です。よろしくお願いいたします。1点ちょっと最初に確認なんですけれども、澤田さんのスライドの中で、商品の値上がり傾向のスライドあったと思います。えっと、赤って書いてるものは秋冬の新作の商品のお話で、紺色って書いてるものは、これはセカンドクオーターの数字っていうことでよろしいんでしょうか。
はい。じゃあ私から回答します。そうですね。記載させて、数字として記載させていただいているのはその通りですね。で、この1、2Qで実際この左側の商品の値上がりがどうだか、どうなのかというのは、同じような形でちょっと調査はしていないので。ただ、このような傾向がもう徐々に出てきていたのが、まあ1Q、2Qの状況だと思っていただければと思います。
わかりました。明らかに一般的に言うと、春夏よりも秋冬の方が単価が上がっている状況。イヤーバイイヤーで見ると、定価って上がってるような状況になっているので、なのでこの紺色で書いてる数字よりも、まあ出荷件数はちょっと別かもしれないですけど、この出荷単価というところでいうと、サードクオーターは普通に考えれば上がってるって考えていいってことですかね。
ちょっとサードクオーターの足元の単価については申し上げられないんですけれども、基本的にその商品の値上がり幅とある程度やっぱ連動する部分はあるということは、お伝えしたいと思います。
ありがとうございます。あと、ちょっと本問の質問の部分になるんですけれども、半導体のところの動きで荷造運賃のセカンドクオーター3ヶ月だけ取り出した前年比の伸び率って3%にとどまってると思います。で、御社が開示している出荷件数、この紺色の文字もそうなんですけど、プラス7.8%で、この中には、BtoBを含んでないで、BtoB今減ってるので、イヤーバイイヤーでは。なので実際の出荷ケースが8よりも小さいっていうことは理解はしてるんですけれども、それでも、ヤマト運輸のその値上がりがあったみたいなところまで踏まえると、おそらく1出荷あたりの荷造運賃単価が下がってるんじゃないかっていうふうに思うんですけれども、これは何かそのボックスサイズに直すとか、御社独自の動きなんかが成果として出てるのか、この辺を教えてもらえますか？
はい。じゃあそこは柳澤さんの方から。
一出荷あたりの荷造運賃単価はですね、下がってますね。そうですね。出荷単価が上がっているということと、一方で、荷造運賃費がサーチャージが乗っかったことによって値上がりはしているものの、この出荷単価の上昇の方が非常にフェーバーに働いているというのが大きいですかね。
金森さん、私からも少し補足させてください。今、金森さんからお話いただいた通りですね。その梱包資材の最適化みたいな取り組みっていうのが結構功を奏しておりまして、場合によっては、例えばネコポスみたいな仕組みを結構使えるようになってきているというところで、平均的に見たですね、一出荷あたりの、必要な配送料っていうところが若干下がったというのは、今の柳澤さんの説明を追加して、要因としてあるかなというところです。
ありがとうございます。あと、ちょっと同様に、これ最後の質問なんですけれども、同じように、おそらくその1出荷あたりのオペレーション人員コストみたいな計算をすると、ここもセカンドクオーターで下がったっていうよりも、まあ1クオーターからのトレンドではあるんですけれども、前年と比べるとすごくコントロールされているというか、下がってきていると思うんですけれども、ここも何か御社独自の工夫の部分があれば教えてください。
年末的な部分もあります。どこかで書いていたとは思うんですけれども、一Q二Qに関しては、中国のロックダウンの影響により、思いのほか、商材が入ってくるのが遅れたというのがありまして。商材が入ってこない、そこはまあ我々の努力なんですけど、そこをまあ変動費化できているんですね。人が余っちゃう話ではなくて、そこを変動に、変動的に捉えることによって、コストアップを抑えている。You know, actually, the personnel costs for operations are almost directly impacted by the storage capacity utilization rate.
The question is, how will this affect the next period? Actually, fewer materials have come in than initially anticipated. At the same time, sales are keeping up, so ultimately, only items that can be sold are coming in. Therefore, the capacity is being utilized with some leeway, which is a good thing. I think this will likely continue into the next period as well.
Understood. Thank you. Thank you for your question. Next, Mr. Okumura, please go ahead.
Okumura from Okasan Securities. Is my audio okay?
Yes, it is.
Thank you. I have two points. First, you touched on this briefly earlier, but could you tell us about the inventory situation for autumn/winter items? Specifically, how is it looking in terms of item counts? On the brand side, are you feeling any shifts in production volumes or is there any impact on the company's inventory that you're concerned about? That's my first point.
Yes. While I can't disclose specific numbers, as I mentioned before, inventories have been lower than expected since the first quarter, and this trend seems set to continue into the third and fourth quarters. However, we haven't reached the level where selling out is a concern. That's the current situation.
Understood. Thank you. My second point is about the integration with malls, which you mentioned earlier. I'd like to ask a bit more about that. You explained that the promotion is maintaining good synergy effects. In terms of users, Yahoo! Shopping seems to be bringing in users from Yahoo!, so it looks like it could expand. On the other hand, with Yahoo! Shopping, there are quite a few unpredictable stores, so there's a risk of getting buried. Considering all of that, how should we interpret the positive and negative impacts? Have you noticed any changes in KPIs or user behavior that might indicate this? Even if it's just within the scope of disclosure. That's it.
Yes. Hirose will respond.
Yes, thank you. Regarding the mall integration, one concern is whether we might get buried. Within Yahoo! Shopping's fashion category, we're using our own knowledge to say, "Let's do it this way," and are working with Yahoo! towards that goal. I think we can maintain our presence in the fashion category of ZOZOTOWN. As for whether it's positive or negative, I'd say it's neutral. It's neither particularly negative nor strongly positive. Yes, neutral.
It's been quite neutral. We believe it's quite neutral.
Thank you very much for your explanation. I wanted to just check. You talked about the site renewal or is it for ZOZOTOWN itself or? Are we talking about integration? PayPay Mall and Yahoo! Shopping integration?
The Yahoo! Shopping fashion category user interface is going to be updated based on our advice. We're improving the user interface for the fashion category within Yahoo! Shopping.
Thank you very much for your explanation.
Thank you for your question. Does anybody else have any questions? If so, please use the raise your hand button. Thank you. Kazahaya-san, please go ahead.
Thank you. This is a follow-up. As we mentioned, the offline store. Is it already included in the initial budget, the cost as well? I just wanted to double check.
Yes.
Yes. It's already been included in the initial budget.
That's it. Thank you.
Thank you very much for your question. It's almost the end of the time. The next question will be the last. Sato-san, please go ahead.
This is Sato. Sorry. The second quarter from the performance, the management team, do you think that it is on par with your expectations or did it surpass your expectations? GMV, sales, can you talk about whether it met your expectations or surpassed them?
Depends on when if you're comparing from the beginning of the year or the end of the first quarter. From the beginning of the fiscal year, we are seeing more profits than we initially hoped. From the end of the first quarter, we're still seeing the same trends, same pace as the first quarter. It's similar to what we saw in the first quarter. I have high expectations for the second quarter as well.
Thank you.
Thank you for your question. Mr. David Gibson, did you want to ask your question? Are you okay? Please go ahead.
Thanks. You sort of answered it earlier. I just wanted to ask, during the quarter, did the growth in the GMV excluding others, did it fluctuate much during July, August, September, or was it relatively steady during the period, please?
We started to see the fall winter demand pick up. That's what happened over the three months.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much for your question. It's the end of the time. We would like to wrap up the Q&A session. Thank you very much for joining us today.