On April 1st, Shanghai Morning Light Stationery Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Morning Light Co., Ltd.", 603899. SH) released its 2025 annual report, which showed that its subsidiary Jiumu Miscellaneous Society suffered a historical high of 84.5104 million yuan in losses. In fact, since its establishment in 2016, this bridgehead project that undertakes the high-end exploration of Morning Light Co., Ltd. has only achieved short-term profits in 2023. During other times, Jiumu Miscellaneous Society has been "losing money".

Cultural and creative industries are not niche tracks, and IP products have also been visibly popular in recent years. Jiumu Miscellaneous Agency has also been launching popular IP products such as Snoopy, non-human creatures, and Langlang Mountain monsters, but why hasn't it emerged from the quagmire of losses?

A source close to Jiumu Miscellaneous Store analyzed that the key problem with Jiumu Miscellaneous Store is the mismatch between product structure and target audience positioning. Compared to brands such as Miniso and KKV, Jiumu Miscellaneous Store's target consumer age group is generally lower, and its main customer group is still students who purchase stationery. The trendy items such as accessories, hats, and bags sold in the store are generally perceived by students as irrelevant and not suitable for their own needs; This type of product attracts accompanying parents, who only make purchases along the way, making it difficult to form stable consumption.

On April 10th, the Economic Observer called Chengguang Stock as an investor to inquire about the reasons for the expansion of losses at Jiumu Miscellaneous Society. Chengguang Stock's securities department staff responded that the losses were caused by multiple factors and could not provide a specific explanation. The staff member stated that Jiumu Miscellaneous Store's revenue will increase in 2025, while maintaining a speed of opening more than 100 stores per year and expanding. Jiumu Miscellaneous Store is not only a retail channel, but also serves as a bridgehead for the products and brand upgrades of the Morning Light brand. The company has always attached great importance to and valued this business. The store has products owned by Morning Light, Jiumu Miscellaneous Society, IP products, etc. The company is constantly investing in them, including back-end capacity building.

Ten years without a firm foothold

Jiumu Miscellaneous Store is a "pioneer" that has high expectations from Morning Light Corporation. What should I do if the stationery store on the street can't sell at a high price? What if there is no leverage for product and brand upgrades based on past products and channels? Jiumu Miscellaneous Goods Society emerged.

In 2016, Chengguang Corporation opened its first Jiumu Miscellaneous Store, targeting high-quality girls aged 15 to 29. The products sold mainly include stationery, cultural and creative products, educational and entertainment products, practical home furnishings, and other categories. Compared to the storefront style layout on the street, Jiumu Miscellaneous Store is a shopping center that has entered the core business district of the city. Chengguang Co., Ltd. hopes to create a space for creating a creative lifestyle.

In 2016, Jiumu Miscellaneous Store opened two stores. In 2017, Jiumu Miscellaneous Goods Society achieved a revenue of 35.1535 million yuan, but a net loss of 9.8907 million yuan.

Before even finding a profitable business model, Jiumu Miscellaneous Society hastily opened up its franchise. In 2018, Jiumu Miscellaneous Store started franchising. In 2018, Jiumu Miscellaneous Society's losses further expanded to 26.0278 million yuan. Even if franchising is relaxed, from the expansion pace of the past few years, direct operated stores are still its main responsibility. In 2023, the total number of stores of Jiumu Miscellaneous Society will be 618, including 417 direct operated stores and 201 franchised stores, with less than one-third of franchised stores. In 2024 and 2025, Chengguang Co., Ltd. did not disclose the number of directly operated and franchised stores of Jiumu Miscellaneous Society in its annual report. By 2025, the total number of stores of Jiumu Miscellaneous Society will exceed 860.

The above-mentioned informed sources revealed that the floor area efficiency of Jiumu Miscellaneous Store is at a downstream level compared to stores of the same type in shopping malls. The display of its products adopts a stacking form, and in order to match the younger age group of students, they are generally relatively low and the display is relatively outdated. In addition, the promotion and response of its IP cooperation are slow, and the overall product turnover rate is relatively low.

It is worth noting that Chengguang Group has also attempted another retail format - Chengguang Life Hall. The target customer group of Morning Light Life Hall is students aged 8 to 15, and the sales products are mainly in the stationery category. However, this business model has never been able to open up the situation. In 2019, there were still 119 stores in the Morning Light Lifestyle Center, but it has rapidly shrunk since then. By 2024, the number of stores has been reduced to 38. In 2025, the revenue of Morning Light Life Hall will only be 47.7498 million yuan, accounting for less than 1% of the total revenue.

Morning Light Corporation has clearly chosen to tilt more resources towards the higher positioned Jiumu Miscellaneous Society. However, Jiumu Miscellaneous Society was also unable to become a top performer in terms of profit growth.

Regarding the expectation of turning losses around, the securities department staff mentioned above stated that the company believes there is still room for further development in this business and will continue to push forward. On the one hand, it has a synergistic and feedback effect with traditional businesses, which can bring positive impacts; On the other hand, it can also serve as a channel supplement, driving price and product increases, and achieving high-end exposure.

Where is the future?

Chain industry expert and general manager of Hehong Consulting, Wen Zhihong, believes that the key to profitability for Jiumu Miscellaneous Society lies in product innovation. The homogenization competition in the daily necessities industry is fierce, and although scale and supply chain are important, the core is still product innovation, including IP operation.

Jiumu Miscellaneous Store is facing fierce competition, and its competitors are constantly adjusting. Miniso increases its efforts in IP co branding and develops towards trendy gaming; Green Lantern Party and Cool Wave Play are also accelerating their IP based operations. At the same time, emerging players are continuously entering the market to divert traffic. During on-site visits to the Shanghai market, reporters found that the emerging brand Grocery Cat has rapidly expanded its stores since last year, and now has opened more than ten stores in Shanghai; According to the actual test data provided by a shopping mall operator, the efficiency of the grocery cat platform is four times that of Jiumu Miscellaneous Store.

It is not difficult to understand the persistence of Chengguang Co., Ltd. Currently, the traditional stationery market is growing at its peak. In 2025, Chengguang's traditional core business revenue will decline by 5% year-on-year, including a 3.61% decrease in sales of writing tools and a nearly 10% year-on-year decrease in sales of student stationery. Jiumu Miscellaneous Store carries the dual expectations of the upward upgrade of the Morning Light brand and a new profit curve.

The bigger concern comes from the changes in the business structure of Chengguang Shares. In 2025, Chenguang Corporation's office direct sales business achieved a revenue of 15.048 billion yuan, accounting for 60.04% of the total revenue; The traditional core business revenue was 8.845 billion yuan, accounting for 35.29%. This means that the B-end business scale of Chengguang has far exceeded the traditional stationery business of C-end, becoming the absolute mainstay of the company's revenue.

On April 1, 2026, Chengguang Corporation announced its intention to spin off Kelipu Technology Group Co., Ltd. (the aforementioned office direct sales business, hereinafter referred to as "Kelipu") and list it on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. After the spin off is completed, Kelipu will become an independent listing platform.

The traditional stationery business of Chenguang Group has weak growth, and its revenue from writing tools, student stationery, and office stationery will all decline year-on-year in 2025; The online sector is still small, with a revenue of 1.204 billion yuan in 2025, accounting for 4.80%.

This raises a question: if the B-end business is spun off and listed, although Chengguang Corporation will still maintain control over it, what other "shining points" does Chengguang Corporation itself have to represent the future?