On August 9, Mingchuang Premium was exposed to have posted on its Spanish social account that a blind box doll wearing a Chinese cheongsam was called a "Japanese geisha", which triggered heated discussion among netizens, and that night, Mingchuang Premium products released three versions of the apology statement in Chinese, English and Western, saying that it had deleted the post for the first time. However, the matter is not over, on the 10th, some netizens found that its Chinese statement said that the words "Mingchuang Premium products as a Chinese retail enterprise with global development" were not reflected in foreign language statements, and then "Chinese songs are not allowed to be played in The Mingchuang premium stores" and "Japanese flags are placed on the desktop when signing contracts with foreign countries" have also been brushed on Weibo hot searches, which once again aroused doubts.
On August 10, Nandu reporter consulted the relevant people of Mingchuang Excellent Products on the above situation, and as of press time, Mingchuang Excellent Products had not yet replied. Nandu reporter combed and found that Mingchuang Excellent Products, which has been listed in the US stock market and Hong Kong stocks, as of now, China is still its main market. In recent years, its revenue growth has been weak, and it has also been caught in the storm many times due to product quality and plagiarism disputes. In addition, half a month ago, Mingchuang Excellent Products had become the target of well-known short-selling institutions, and the stock price once fell sharply.
The cheongsam doll is called a "Japanese geisha", and after apologizing, he will be questioned
On the evening of August 9, the topic of "Mingchuang Premium" suddenly brushed up on Weibo hot search, which stemmed from the exposure of a post post posted by The Spanish social account of Mingchuang Premium in July, which promoted a blind box doll wearing a Chinese cheongsam, but called it a "Japanese geisha". On the evening of the same day, Mingchuang Premium made a public response to this matter, issuing a statement of apology in Chinese, English and Spanish, and attached relevant documents such as the agent notification letter and the screenshot of the Instagram apology statement.
Nandu reporter noted that its Chinese apology statement said that after receiving feedback from netizens, the post was deleted as soon as possible, and penalties were taken against the local social media agency operation agency, immediately terminating the cooperative relationship, and requiring the Spanish agent to carry out a week-long internal rectification. Chinese statement also stressed that "as a Chinese retail enterprise with global development, Mingchuang Premium also has the responsibility to pass on Chinese culture to global consumers... The export of traditional Chinese culture will be strengthened. ”
However, the apology letter did not calm the outside world. Nandu reporter found that the English and Spanish versions of the apology statement posted on the Spanish Instagram account of Mingchuang Premium deleted the Chinese statement saying that "Mingchuang Premium is a Chinese retail enterprise with global development", nor did it use foreign languages in the text to indicate that it terminated the cooperative relationship with the agent.
On August 10, the public opinion storm of Mingchuang Excellent Products continued, and topics such as "Mingchuang Excellent Products Stores Are Not Allowed to Play Chinese Songs" and "Mingchuang Excellent Products Signing Ceremony Once Hung the Japanese Flag" have been brushed on Weibo hot searches. Some netizens who claim to have worked in Mingchuang Premium said that Chinese songs are not allowed in the Mingchuang Premium Store. His comment said: "One of the questions in the upgrade test is what songs are not allowed to be played in the store, and the correct answer is actually Chinese song.". On the afternoon of the same day, Nandu reporters called a number of Mingchuang premium flagship stores to verify the matter, but many store staff said that they "did not respond to this matter."
In addition, the fact that the Japanese flag was displayed on the table when Mingchuang Premium signed contracts with foreign countries was also exposed. Nandu reporter learned from the Inquiry of the China Judgment Document Network that in 2019, Mingchuang Excellent Products had sued the self-media that exposed the Japanese flag when it signed the contract, and after the court trial, it was determined that the defendant provided relevant photos showing that Mingchuang Excellent Products hung the Japanese flag when signing a contract with a Bulgarian company; The allegedly infringing content of the articles involved in the case was basically true, and the court finally rejected the litigation claim of Mingchuang Premium.
It is worth noting that nandu reporters found that mingchuang premium products will call themselves "Japanese brands" in the promotion of some countries. According to photos provided by overseas netizens, Mingchuang Premium products have used slogans such as "From Japan" in the United States and other places for publicity and marketing. Nandu reporters also found that the Instagram account introduction of Minchuang Premium Panama also called it "created by Japan". On August 10, Nandu reporters consulted the relevant people of Mingchuang Excellent Products on the above situation, but as of press time, Mingchuang Excellent Products had not yet replied.
It has been repeatedly exposed to the problem of quality plagiarism, and recently landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
According to the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, the main company of Mingchuang Premium Products is Mingchuang Premium Products (Guangzhou) Liability Co., Ltd., with a registered address of Guangzhou, China, and the legal representative is Ye Guofu. According to public information, on October 15, 2020, Minchuang Premium products landed on the New York Stock Exchange in the United States; On July 13 this year, Mingchuang Premium (09896. HK) officially landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
On May 26 this year, Minchuang Premium released an unaudited financial report for the third fiscal quarter of 2022, showing that its total revenue was 2.34 billion yuan, of which domestic revenue was 1.82 billion yuan, overseas revenue was 520 million yuan, and in terms of stores, at the end of this quarter, it had 5113 stores in the world, of which 3197 were domestic stores, accounting for more than 60%, and the number of overseas stores was 1916, that is to say, as of now, China is still the main market for Mingchuang premium products.
Nandu reporter combed and found that in addition to the doubts caused by the self-proclaimed "Japanese brand", its products have also been repeatedly caught in the quality storm before. According to incomplete statistics, since 2020, Mingchuang Premium products have been notified by the market supervision department 6 times that the products are unqualified, involving perfumes, masks, hair dryers, children's bowls and other products.
According to Nandu's previous report, on the eve of the listing in the United States in 2020, the "one-step peelable nail polish" sold by a store in Shanghai was unqualified by the former Shanghai Municipal Drug Administration, and the nail polish carcinogen was detected to exceed the standard by 1400 times, and then Mingchuang Premium announced that it would recall the product at a price of 10 times. In May 2021, the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Market Supervision released the "2020 Guangzhou Protective Mask Product Quality Supervision and Random Inspection Results", showing that two batches of "MINISO" disposable masks produced by Mingchuang Excellent Products were unqualified.
In addition, Mingchuang Premium products have also been repeatedly caught in the plagiarism storm. In October 2018, the two-year infringement lawsuit between Mingchuang Premium and illustrator Bai Guan officially ended with the official apology of Mingchuang Premium; In 2021, a designer with the screen name "Li Tang 00" reported on Weibo that he designed a patterned work in August 2020, which was printed on the hat by Mingchuang Excellent Product without authorization, and the matter later ended in a settlement between the two sides.
The ten-yuan boutique turned around, and the revenue growth in recent years has been weak
According to public information, before Ye Guofu founded Mingchuang Premium, he had founded a chain beauty brand called "Oops" in 2004. Oops take the "civilian fashion" route, through the 5 yuan head rope, 10 yuan card to create a boutique 10 yuan store model, and has hired Ying Caier, Li Xiang, S.H.E and other star endorsements. In just a few years, nearly a thousand chain stores have been established across the country, with a total retail sales of more than 500 million yuan.
With the rise of Internet e-commerce, the development of Oops has been hindered. According to the official website of Mingchuang Premium, in 2013, the founder Ye Guofu was inspired by the Japanese daily life department store to found Mingchuang Premium in Guangzhou. According to the prospectus documents of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, more than 95% of the products of Mingchuang Excellent Products are priced below 50 yuan in the Chinese market, attracting a large number of young users with high-quality and low-cost products.
However, in the past three years, the revenue growth of Mingchuang Premium products has been weak. According to its financial report data, from 2019 to 2021, the revenue of Mingchuang Premium products was 9.395 billion yuan, 8.979 billion yuan and 9.072 billion yuan, respectively, and the net profit attributable to the mother was -291 million yuan, -262 million yuan and -1.415 billion yuan, with a cumulative loss of nearly 2 billion yuan.
In addition, The revenue of a single store has experienced continuous negative growth in the past three years. In fiscal 2019-2020, the revenue of Mingchuang Premium Single Store fell from 2.7 million yuan to 2.2 million yuan, a decrease of 19.8%. In fiscal 2020-2021, its single-store revenue continued to decline to 1.9 million yuan, a decrease of 11.3%.
In addition, nandu reporters noted that less than 1 month ago, Mingchuang premium products were also targeted by the well-known short-selling agency Blue Orca Capital and appeared on the hot search. Blue Orca Capital released a short-selling report on Mingchuang Premium, saying that after a 7-month investigation of Mingchuang Premium, the agency believed that hundreds of stores of Mingchuang Excellent product did not have an independent franchise network, but were held by Mingchuang executives or people who had a close relationship with the chairman; Mingchuang is suspected of misappropriating shareholder funds to the chairman; As well as the company's business shrinkage, a large number of store closures, etc.
A few days later, MINGO Premium issued a "Voluntary Announcement" on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in response to the allegations in the short-selling report, saying that "the report is groundless and contains misleading conclusions and interpretations about the Company's information." At the same time, the announcement said the board is reviewing the allegations and considering appropriate action to protect the interests of all shareholders. Affected by this, on the day of the release of the short report, the maximum decline in the stock price of Mingchuang Premium in Hong Kong stocks once exceeded 10%, and then the performance of US stocks was not optimistic, and the stock price fell by nearly 15%. At present, the incident is inconclusive.
As of August 10, Minchuang Premium was quoted at HK$12.4 per share, down 4.76% year-on-year, with a market capitalization of HK$15.71 billion.
Written by: Nandu reporter Yu Yijing Intern Wang Rui