Global Times: Traditional Chinese brand vies for global expansion through finance digitalization

SHANGHAI, Aug. 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- China's social retail sales surpassed 23 trillion yuan ($3.18 trillion) from January to June, a 3.7 percent increase year-on-year, the National Bureau of Statistics revealed in mid-July. Social consumption is gaining increasing prominence in driving the recovery of the national economy.

In 2023, consumption was a major engine for nation's economic growth with the contribution rate of final consumption expenditure to economic growth reaching 82.5 percent, a remarkable increase of 43.1 percentage points compared with 2022, official data showed.

As a national cosmetic brand with over 100 years of history, Shanghai Jahwa United Co, Ltd (Shanghai Jahwa) owns multiple well-known brands such as Liushen, Dr. Yu, Herborist and Maxam. Additionally, it undertakes the responsibility of promoting traditional Chinese culture as well as social consumption.

In 2017, Shanghai Jahwa acquired Tommee Tippee, a leading maternal and infant brand in the UK, officially becoming a Shanghai-based multinational company, further enhancing its competitiveness in the global market.

In the face of challenges and responsibilities, the data integration-oriented digitalization transformation launched by Shanghai Jahwa offers solutions for the company's diversifying operation demand.

Empowered by the analytical capabilities of its digitalized management system, Shanghai Jahwa showed comprehensive advantages in its overseas business operations, becoming a leading cosmetics enterprise based in China and radiating throughout the world.

Enterprises' digital transformation is a crucial part for building a modern industrial system and the nation's high-quality development of the economy, said Han Min, a deputy general manager, CFO and board secretary of Shanghai Jahwa, adding that it is also a process full of hope and pain.

During a thorough transformation campaign, Shanghai Jahwa prioritized digitalization in its finance sector to lead the company's overall digitalized upgrade. The company took sales expenses as a breakthrough by adopting financial management systems targeting distributors and marketing expenses, which effectively resolved relevant expense control issues.

Through the application of a digitalized management system across the financial sector, Shanghai Jahwa has achieved whole-process management to form an operation model with business-finance integration and compliance.

The system connects and simplifies various procedures from pre-approval to post-reconciliation. Notably, it removes unnecessary manual operations, achieving refined, controllable and data-integrated management, according to the company.

Han pointed out that compared with multinational giants such as Procter & Gamble and L'Oréal, Shanghai Jahwa started relatively late in digitalization, but is making efforts to close the gap, including building a digitalized central platform and driving the digital integration of online and offline channels.

"Our company should integrate digital and intelligent transformation into management processes, combining it with traditional elements to create new quality productive forces. This will facilitate international engagement, attract global resources and drive the internationalization of the company," Han noted.

In 2023, the total retail sales of cosmetics in China amounted to 414.2 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year growth of 5.1 percent. Notably, China's cosmetics exports reached $6.51 billion, surging by 16.7 percent year-on-year, official data showed.

Benefiting from its digitalization strategy, Shanghai Jahwa recorded a 5.93 percent annual revenue increase in 2023 from the previous year, while net profit of the company's domestic business saw a significant year-on-year growth of 75 percent, effectively countering external market headwinds such as terminal store suspensions and regulation adjustment.

As an industry leader, Shanghai Jahwa has actively promoted digital and intelligent transformation across the industry, further releasing consumption potential to boost the nation's economic recovery.