Chinese Household Goods Retailer Miniso Files for US IPO
Chinese household and consumer goods retailer Miniso Co. Ltd. filed on Wednesday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering under the code MNSO.
The funds raised for Miniso’s US listing will be mainly used to expand global stores and retail networks, upgrade warehousing and logistics networks, and further improve digital operation systems, according to the company.
The underwriters of the IPO are The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and Bank of America Securities LLC.
Miniso was founded by Chinese entrepreneur Ye Guofu and Japanese designer Miyake Junya and opened its first store in China in 2013 in the southern city of Guangzhou.
Products from Miniso are known for their low prices, and low prices for products in limited amounts lead to high store traffic and fast inventory turnover.
“We hope to establish a new business model to break the price inflation of traditional retailing and make the price truly match the actual value of the products,” Ye said in an interview in 2017.
Ye said that Miniso demands a product turnover of 21 days, with products updating every seven days “so as to keep the feeling of novelty for consumers and give them a new surprise every time they come to the store.”
Although Miniso has been criticized for copying designs from other Japanese lifestyle brands such as Uniqlo and Muji, it has maintained global growth. As of June 30, it has built a retail network of more than 4,200 stores in more than 80 countries and regions around the world, including more than 2,500 stores in the Chinese market and 1,680 in overseas markets.
In 2019, Miniso’s retail gross merchandise volume (GMV) reached $2.7 billion (approximately 19 billion yuan), accounting for 5.2% of the global private brand comprehensive retail GMV, which was $52 billion, according to the independent research institute Frost & Sullivan report. And Miniso was called by the agency as ”the world’s largest private brand value retailer.”
Data from Miniso’s smart store system shows that in 2019, its in-store passenger flow exceeded 416 million in the Chinese market, and the in-store purchase rate reached more than 30%; more than 80% of shoppers were below 40 years old, and more than 60% under the age of 30.
Data from Miniso’s smart store system shows that in 2019, its in-store passenger flow exceeded 416 million in the Chinese market, and the in-store purchase rate reached more than 30%; more than 80% of shoppers were below 40 years old, and more than 60% under the age of 30.
In September 2018, Miniso announced the signing of a strategic investment agreement with Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Chinese private equity firm Hillhouse Capital Group for a total of 1 billion yuan.
Before the IPO, Miniso founder Ye held 80.8% of the total shares, Hillhouse Capital and Tencent both held 5.4% shares, respectively.
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