It is time, so we would like to begin. ZOZO, Inc.'s FY 2021 third quarter consolidated business result announcement. Due to COVID-19, we are only streaming this live. This is now taking place offline, and this will be taking place until 5:35 P.M. and then from 5:50 P.M., in another Zoom channel, we have a Q&A session for the institutional investors.
Let me introduce those present today. President and CEO Kotaro Sawada. Thank you very much. Executive Vice President and CFO Koji Yanagisawa. Executive Director and COO Fuminori Hirose. Executive Officer Christine Edman. Thank you very much. There are four presenters today, and our CFO Yanagisawa will take us through the results briefings.
Good afternoon. This is the Executive Vice President and CFO Yanagisawa. I would like to start the briefing for today. The document that we are using today, it's... We have manga, and it's quite pop, but the design theme is, in the third quarter, in November, the designer actually had a child. We hope that you can actually tell him congratulations. That would be great. Thank you very much. Let's jump right in.
This is not in the presentation document, but it's the highlights for FY 2021 third quarter. The GMV for the third quarter in FY 2021 increased by 23.4% year-on-year to JPY 375.5 billion. GMV, excluding other GMV, increased by 13.6% year-on-year to JPY 341.5 billion. The OP increased by 14.8% year-on-year to JPY 38.7 billion. The OPM was 11.4%, improving by 0.2 points. This is where we landed.
Looking at the fiscal year forecast we have announced, we have achieved 79.4% of the GMV. With respect to the OP, we've achieved about 81.1%, so we are making great progress. Moving on. This is page seven of the document available on our IR page. This is the consolidated business results for each quarter. In the third quarter, the GMV, excluding other GMV, increased by 15% year-on-year.
The state of emergency had been lifted and people's traffic had begun to recover. However, brands proactively provided us with inventory and our active promotion activities proved fruitful, so we have made great strides growing over 10% year-on-year. With respect to the OP, although we actively conducted promotions, the GMV grew, and also our advertising business grew as well, so our gross profits increased.
We were also able to reduce logistical costs and payment collection costs as well. Our OP increased by 8% year-on-year, and the OPM for this quarter was 11.3%, so that this we had a steady quarter. Let me go into more detail about our business results. This is page eight of the document. Here is the increase-decrease analysis of our OP. From JPY 33.78 billion, we have increased our OP by JPY 4.99 billion year-on-year to JPY 38.77 billion. Factors that contributed to the increase of the OP, there are basically three.
First one is the increase in sales due to the increase in consignment shop commissions, which accounted for JPY 8.48 billion, growth of the advertising business, which contributed to JPY 1.74 billion, and increase in shipping revenues and payment collection revenues associated with the increase in sales, which amounted to JPY 3.42 billion. On the other hand, the OP decreased. There's mainly four reasons.
One is increase in the number of employees, logistics centers, and outsourced operations, which amounted to JPY 2.72 billion in fixed costs. Variable costs increased by JPY 3.78 billion in response to the GMV. We increased ad spend due to active implementation of TV commercials, which amounted to JPY 1.99 billion, and other costs increased by JPY 0.16 billion. Moving on to the next page. This is page nine.
This is the balance sheet. As I explained before, we have acquired treasury stocks in order to become eligible to join the Prime Market. Therefore, in comparison to the end of last fiscal year, cash and deposits have decreased and treasury stocks have increased. This is page 10. As we have explained this before as well, but let me take you through this again.
To join the Prime Market, we have acquired treasury stocks and issued new stock acquisition rights as well, and this enable us to fulfill one of the listing requirements, tradable share ratio of at least 35%. On October 1st, we have been contacted by the Tokyo Stock Exchange that we meet all the necessary criteria. As a result, as announced on the TSE website on January 11th, 2022, we have chosen to join the Prime Market.
Moving on to the following page 16. Here is the quarterly GMV. In the third quarter, the holdings actively undertook promotions. Therefore, the PayPay Mall share of the GMV increased by 2.3% this quarter, and its contribution is now at 8.5%. In addition, other GMV that we have begun to list from the second quarter last fiscal year made up 9.2% of the GMV this quarter. Next page. This is page 20. As of the end of the third quarter, this is a breakdown of the SG&A. Against the GMV, SG&A was 22.8% and improved by 0.2% year-on-year. This is due to the fact that there's mainly four factors, four reasons.
We adopted new revenue recognition standards, and thus point related expenses are now being deducted from sales rather than being booked under SG&A expenses. Therefore, the point related expenses decreased by 0.5%. The second factor is that we improved operational efficiency within our logistics centers. First, personnel expenses in relation to logistics centers improved by 0.3%.
The third factor is that the financial terms with the credit card payment collection company improved. Therefore, the payment collection ratio decreased by 0.3 point. Fourth factor is that we also changed the packaging materials for products delivered to customers, which improved other costs by 0.2 point, that we changed the packaging material from the middle of second quarter last fiscal year.
However, by actively undertaking promotions to increase traffic such as TV CM and web ads, and also by distributing ZOZOGLASS for free, the SG&A increased by 0.9 points. Those are some of the major factors driving the SG&A up. This is page 21. Here are the changes in OP and OPM. In the third quarter, the advertising business grew and the operational efficiency in our logistics centers improved, so our OPM increased.
However, we actively undertook promotions to increase traffic and sales and merge the technology subsidiary, which temporarily increased the number of costs for employees. As a result, the OPM has come down by 0.7 points year-on-year, landing at 11.3%. In terms of the temporary costs for merging the technology subsidiary, it is temporary. There, we don't foresee.
There is not going to be a large cost until going forward. It's a temporary cost. This is page 24. Here are the key KPIs for ZOZOTOWN. These KPIs do not include the PayPay Mall and the BtoB business performance. This is just for ZOZOTOWN itself. The number of annual buyers increased by 210,000 this quarter to 10.1 million, surpassing 10 million for the first time in our history. The active members increased by 200,000 from the last quarter to 8.71 million, and the guest buyers increased by 10,000 to 1.39 million. The number of active members increased steadily since we have managed to retain the new members acquired last fiscal year.
Also, during ZOZOWEEK and the summer and winter sales season, we conducted or we launched TV commercial campaigns and managed to successfully attract new customers. This has contributed to our customer acquisition. The guest buyers increased at the same level as the first and second quarter this fiscal year. The annual number of buyers, total buyers, has been steadily increasing. Moving on. This is page 25. Here is the change in the number of shops. We had 1,516 shops as of the end of the third quarter, which is a net increase of 14 shops since the second quarter.
In the third quarter, we welcomed 30 new shops, including The Body Shop, a British organic cosmetic brand, as well as Karrimor, an outdoor brand also from Britain, and a jewelry brand that has been gaining traction by utilizing Japanese technology and featuring a unique design called Ambush. Next page. Page 30.
This is the average retail price. The average retail price was JPY 4,167, down 3.1% year-on-year. Although the ratio of products sold at a discount did not change significantly, we welcome more users who prefer lower priced products, and the price of goods sold at a discount also fell as well. Those are the main factors. If we go to the next page 31, the average order value was JPY 8,592, up 0.9% year-on-year.
It has come up for the first time in a while. Buyers purchased more products per order, therefore, the AOV has increased year-on-year. This is page 33. This is the consolidated business and dividend forecast. There are no changes to this plan. We are on track, making steady progress. That's it from me. I would like to pass the microphone over to the President Sawada.
Good afternoon, everyone. I would like to discuss these three topics today. Before we do that, though, as Yanagisawa explained, the performance in the third quarter, I would like to comment a little bit about that. First of all, we are doing well. We have various KPIs in mind, but most of the KPIs, we're seeing a very positive trend. Please bear that in mind when you look at ZOZOTOWN and PayPay Mall.
As we mentioned, the number of active members are growing as well, and we have over surpassed 10 million. In terms of the new customer acquisition, we're like a stock business, so new customer acquisition is very important. That has been doing well this fiscal year as well. We are welcoming a steady number of new customers.
In terms of the AOV, as we mentioned, it is coming back up as well, so various KPIs are trending well. This is one reason the promotions are going well in the third quarter. In terms of promotional expenses, we did inject a lot of promotional costs, and we have tried various activities, and we accelerate when possible, so we have the ad spend in control. We were fortunate that many of our initiatives did well.
In the fourth quarter as well, we hope to do promotions very well, so we can drive further growth. Now, moving on to these three points that I would like to explain. My first one, we would like to introduce a new, newly appointed Executive Officer. Last year, we did announce that a new Executive Officer will be joining, and she joined in December last year.
I would like to take some time today for her to introduce herself. More fashion tech is something that we're bearing in mind as we operate our business. But fashion tech, fortunately, like ZOZOMAT and ZOZOGLASS, they have become a key. We are well-recognized as a technology company now, but more fashion, we still have a lot of room for growth, and there are some internal challenges as well. Therefore, we wanted to welcome somebody who understands fashion and, business as well, and we're very happy that she has decided to join us. We would like to take this time for her to introduce herself. This is Christine Edman.
Everyone who's listening today, nice to meet you. I was just introduced. I'm Christine Edman. In 2021, December 1st, I joined ZOZO as an Executive Officer. In the past, I've worked as H&M Japan. I helped the launch of H&M, and I was working there from 2008 to 2016, eight years. After that, I was working as the President and CEO of Givenchy, which is part of the LVMH.
I built and reinforced the sales team and created a flat organizational structure. Drawing on the experience from these two entities, I would like to further embrace the Japanese fashion community, and we want to provide the most state-of-the-art, cutting-edge fashion in a more sustainable way. We're going to enter the cosmetics and luxury categories as well. We're going to utilize technology to propose a new way to enjoy fashion.
We want to do that as quickly as possible. Also, from the SDGs perspective, we want to support various initiatives, make sure that the fashion becomes more sustainable. I also want to transform the organization so that it's more friendly working environment for women as well. I look forward to working with all of you. Thank you very much.
We do have a lot of women working with us and also many customers who are women. It's a great thing that a woman has joined our board, and she has wealth of knowledge as a businesswoman and also a mother as well. We are looking forward to having her on board. The second point today that we wanted to introduce was ZOZOBASE Tsukuba 3.
Last year, we did announce that we were going to build this, but we hadn't really introduced this in more detail. I would like to give you some more information about this new base. This is what it looks like from the outside. This is what it's going to look like when it's complete. Our logistics centers, we have increased to, with bearing in mind our growth in the future.
We have continued to increase logistics centers as we have grown. Of course, with the logistics centers that we currently have, we won't be able to continue to grow. Therefore, next year, in the summer, this will start operation. We are preparing so that we can actually expand our logistical capacity. This is actually in Tsukuba, and we already have a couple logistics centers in Tsukuba.
We are well-rooted in the local community. We're communicating with the local community, and we're blending into the locale. Of course, the people of the local community are working with us part-time and helping us with our operations. Amid COVID, part-time workers are in short supply. The logistics centers in Tsukuba, we're actually seeing stickiness with respect to our part-time workers.
They are staying with us for a long time. It has been doing well. Also, going forward, we're not going to have an endless supply of working part-timers, so we want to implement automation, and we want to implement some innovative Japan-first automation. I can't really explain everything in detail, but we did prepare a video. Please watch this video and get an idea of what we are trying to do in these new logistics centers.
You can never sell clothes online? ZOZOTOWN changed this common thinking. We have been creating various innovations ever since. Our next challenge is to create ZOZOBase Tsukuba 3, a new distribution base which is now under construction. We will automate it with the latest technologies.
Merchandise from brands are received from trucks to conveyors, then routed to our automated warehouse. It is automatically sorted based on the first-in, first-out and carried to the inspection area. In this inspection area, merchandise is carefully taken out from the box and checked. A unique barcode sticker is placed on the merchandise, and it is put into a tray-type sorting robot called T-Sort. T-Sort automatically carries merchandise to the appropriate destination according to its shape or the corresponding storage location.
Sorted merchandise is put on the conveyor and routed to the lower floor. Once merchandise is carefully stowed, we simply wait for your order. For example, this customer ordered three items: lipstick, heels, and a red dress. Let's see how ZOZOBASE handles this person's order. The merchandise picked from the shelves are routed to the shipment area on the first floor.
This area is equipped with the latest sorting system that was introduced by ZOZO for the first time in Japan. Merchandise is put into this pocket one by one and temporarily kept in the buffer area. Lipstick and heels have arrived a little later. Now we have all the merchandise the customer ordered. Finally, it is time for packaging. Packaging and shipping labels are also, of course, processed automatically. By enhancing the operation efficiency with the latest technology, we can focus more on creating the future. ZOZOBASE will help us make it happen.
That was about the ZOZOBASE, the new logistics center. Lastly, we would like to give you an update on the current situation of ZOZOCOSME. I'm sure you're quite interested in this topic, but we would like to share as much information as we can at this point in time.
First, this is the new buyers of ZOZOCOSME, and it's not for ZOZOTOWN. It's new buyers who are buying COSME on our platform. As we mentioned earlier, we are similar to a stock business as an EC, so new customer acquisition is going to be key to our future growth. That's going to contribute significantly. Of course, we understand this, so we're keeping an eye on this.
Fortunately, it's been a year now, but we can see that it's a healthy growth of new customers acquired through ZOZOCOSME. Moving on. If we look at the demographics or attributes of the people who are buying COSME on our platform, as you know, ZOZOTOWN, the gender ratio, it's actually popular among a younger generation as well. With respect to ZOZOCOSME, the demographics are even slightly younger. The younger generation are buying more cosmetics.
Also the gender ratio, apparel is 71. For apparel, is 71-29, but for COSME it's 92 and [seven]. Of course, this may seem like seem expected, but men's cosmetics market is actually, there's a lot of room for growth, and there's high expectations for the men's cosmetics market. We did launch our service this month for men to start with, and so we have more customers than other ECs.
We want to keep growing the men's cosmetics category as well. When we break down the major cosmetics categories, we can see that the makeup is actually comprising 50% of the GMV. Apparel users, there's a high affinity with apparel and makeup. That is why we're seeing higher sales with makeup. It turns out. This is quite unique.
You wouldn't see this kind of pie chart with other distribution, with other services. It is very important, because it does lead to continuous sales, skin care, but makeup is actually selling well. Of course, we want to make sure that that continues to be the case as well, and we want to further increase the skin care sales, which is still a little low, but we're going to focus on marketing efforts to help improve the skin care sales going forward. Also, if you look at the brand sales composition, here what's unique is that, luxury brands actually comprise about nearly half of the sales. Luxury brands such as department cosmetics. Those brands are selling very well.
As a cosmetics EC mall, in terms of the SKUs and the store itself, we have a high confidence in what we're offering. The initiatives that we are implementing at the moment include we are delivering products to our customers, we are enclosing cosmetic samples within the shipping packages. That's something, promotion activities that we are doing.
When some new product is introduced, we actually discuss with the brands to actually distribute samples to a targeted audience. Once we distribute the samples, we have seen that those brands sales go up as well. This is something unique that we can do. We hope to accelerate our efforts in targeted sampling.
Next, our strength, our weapon is that, people who are coming to ZOZOTOWN to buy apparel, they are starting to purchase cosmetics as well. The hurdle or the barrier to entry is very low, so that's something that we're trying to take advantage of. We all have, like, for example, introduce video that feature both fashion and cosmetics.
Once we do introduce some cosmetics in the video, we can see that those products sell well. By the way, in terms of cosmetics, 60% of the sales are actually people are buying together with apparel as well. That's something that we did expect as well. It's on par with our expectations. In terms of the number of brands, when we launched last year, this was around this level, but it has grown steadily.
However, there are still many brands out there, so we hope to reach out to many brands and invite them on board. Lastly, AR makeup menu is scheduled to be released. We are focused on EC, so we want to actually replicate the experience in stores online. Our answer to that is, for example, ZOZOMAT and ZOZOGLASS.
With cosmetics, we believe that this kind of function is necessary. We're developing and going to implement this AR makeup menu, hopefully in the spring. In March as well, it's going to be a one-year anniversary for us, for ZOZOCOSME, so we're going to be promoting to get momentum on leading up to the anniversary to continue to nurture this category. Our approach has not changed towards cosmetics. That's it from me. Thank you very much.
That concludes ZOZO, Inc.'s FY 2021 third quarter consolidated business result announcement. Thank you very much for joining us.