Baozun offers another way to get exposure to Chinese e-commerce. The company is not an online seller like Alibaba, JD, or Pinduoduo, but a facilitator, helping multinational companies with fulfillment, marketing, and technology to sell online in China.
Baozun, which counts Alibaba as an investor, has 260 brand partners including Nike, Microsoft, and Philips, and that figure is up from 223 the year before and 95 in 2015, showing the company is quickly growing its corporate customer base.
Because of its business model, Baozun is significantly smaller than the companies above. Its GMV reached $10.8 billion in its most recent quarter, up 19.4% from the previous year, which drove overall revenue up 21.7% to $269.4 million. The company's business has been gradually shifting from its product segment, essentially reselling its brand partners' merchandise, to higher-margin services, which include warehousing, fulfillment, IT solution, and customer service. That shift has helped expand its profit margins, and adjusted operating profits jumped 47% in the most recent quarter.
Despite the company's steady growth, the stock has underperformed over the last three years, trading sideways after it surged in 2017. Still, if profits continue to grow, the stock will eventually respond.