China's SaaS: An 'Open Ocean' Up Ahead (3/4)China's cloud computing industry is still gradually developing, which implies infinite opportunities. When it comes to SaaS, the potential is even larger. This article is an overview of the country's cloud computing industry featuring the key players in the market, including Kingdee, Kingsoft, Youzan and Weimob.
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In China, public cloud services have been increasingly popular, along with a number of existing customers showing desires to extend and customize the providers' offerings at their own expense. The country's cloud service value chain possesses enormous investment value at different levels. One reason is that the high cost of data migration generates solid user stickiness; the other reason is the relative independence of the sector from macroeconomic fluctuations. As projected by IDC, the cloud computing penetration among enterprises will increase to 15.8% by 2024 in China. By then, the market size will reach CNY 563.3 billion.
Currently, China's cloud market is at an early stage of development, with a lower market penetration rate compared with that in the United States. As per R&D World, China's spending on research and development (R&D) is expected to top with USD 621.5 billion in 2021, denoting a 25.5% share of the global R&D spending that year. In contrast, China's spending on cloud computing services only accounts for 6.2% of the global figure. It points to the fact that there is a great potential for the cloud computing market within China along with the continuing technological development.
11 out of the 20 most prominent tech companies in the US have been intensively engaged in the software-as-a-service (SaaS) business, which accounts for 40% of the value of those 20 companies. On the contrary, only 6 out of the 20 major tech players in China have SaaS business, occupying slightly 3% of the total value of those 20 largest Chinese techs. The industry's key players in China are the local SaaS providers such as Kingdee and foreign players that charge exorbitant prices in exchange for customized services.
Considering China's strict regulation on foreign companies, especially in various technology-related fields, the local companies are more likely to get the upper hand in the competition.
China Youzan (08083:HK)
Youzan provides merchants with social network-based SaaS systems with omnichannel operations and integrated new retail solutions, applying PaaS cloud services to create business customization options while providing extended services, such as Youzan Guarantee, Youzan Distribution and Youzan Promotion.
Within Youzan's ecosystem, merchants can sell items via social networks, managing their own omnichannel retail through the company's SaaS solutions. The firm also offers a variety of cloud-based commerce services to merchants through a suite of SaaS products such as Youzan WeiMall, Youzan Retail, Youzan Chain, Youzan Beauty and Youzan Education. In addition, Youzan specializes in the SaaS business that supports SME merchants and facilitates retail transactions. Across industries, management teams lacking a technical background can easily open a customized online store on Youzan.
Youzan's gross merchandise volume (GMV) in 2020 was CNY 103.7 billion, a 61% increase compared to 2019's figure. In the same year, the gross profit margin of its SaaS products increased by 11.8%, reaching 76.0%.
