New stock interpretation| Rely on "cost-performance ratio" to break through the outdoor track, Tambor knocks on the door of HKEx IPO

In recent years, outdoor clothing in the Chinese market has witnessed an unprecedented boom. Looking at various e-commerce platforms, the growth momentum of outdoor clothing brands is very strong. Data from Meituan Research Institute shows that by 2025, the number of outdoor sports consumers in China has exceeded 800 million, with a total consumption exceeding 1 trillion yuan. At the same time, this year's data from the 618 shopping festival once again confirmed that outdoor products remain one of the categories with high growth in e-commerce. In this rapidly growing but highly fragmented blue ocean market, local brands are rising at an accelerating pace. On June 21st, TANBOER disclosed material sets after the hearing at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with only one step away from the listing process on the Hong Kong stock market. This clothing brand, positioned as "affordable", has in recent years transformed into a "professional outdoor brand" and knocked on the doors of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with impressive performance data. Behind the high growth rate lies a hidden profitability "test". Public information shows that TANBOER, founded in 1999, previously focused on producing down jackets, but after 22 years, accelerated its transformation into an outdoor "quality" lifestyle brand, launching multi-scenario functional clothing. In their prospectus, the company positions itself as a mature professional outdoor clothing brand in China, with products meeting various needs of outdoor activities such as skiing, mountaineering, hiking, as well as urban scenarios like outings, park leisure, and commuting. From a financial perspective, TANBOER has achieved significant growth in recent years. From 2023 to 2025, the company's revenue increased from 1.021 billion yuan to 2.189 billion yuan, doubling in size in two years, with a year-on-year growth rate of 68.1% in 2025, far exceeding the average level of the domestic clothing industry, placing it at the forefront of the professional outdoor track. However, beneath the facade of high growth, the company's net profit in 2023 was 139 million yuan, with a net profit margin of 13.6%; in 2024, net profit fell to 107 million yuan, with a net profit margin of only 8.2%, a 23% decline compared to the previous year; in 2025, net profit rose to 223 million yuan, with a net profit margin of 10.2%, still below the 2023 profit level. A closer look at the prospectus reveals that the main reason for the fluctuating profits over the past three years is the significant increase in sales and distribution expenses. From 2023 to 2025, these expenses increased from 356 million yuan to 809 million yuan, accounting for 34.8%, 39.0%, and 36.9% of revenue respectively. Among them, advertising and promotional expenses, as well as online service fees (including fees paid to e-commerce platforms and KOL live streaming commissions), are the fastest-growing components. It can be seen that TANBOER is trading high marketing expenditure for market share and brand awareness, which is a necessary expansion strategy in a fiercely competitive industry, but it also means that the company's net profit margin is difficult to significantly increase in the short term. Looking at a longer term, if marketing expenditure cannot be effectively converted into brand assets and customer loyalty, the high sales expense ratio may become a factor limiting profitability. In terms of product structure, TANBOER is divided into three main series: top outdoor series, sports outdoor series, and urban light outdoor series, totaling 687 SKUs by the end of 2025. From the changes in revenue structure, it can be seen that the company is consciously shifting from low-priced, mass-market urban light outdoor products to higher value-added, specialized sports outdoor and top outdoor areas. In 2023, the urban light outdoor series contributed 73.6% of revenue, which decreased to 62.2% by 2025; at the same time, the revenue share of the sports outdoor series increased from 25.3% to 31.9%, and the top outdoor series jumped from almost negligible 0.7% to 5.6%. This change in product structure not only reflects the company's strategic intent to transition to higher-end, specialized products, but also directly reflects in the gross profit margins the gross profit margins of the top outdoor series and sports outdoor series both exceed 59%, significantly higher than the urban light outdoor series' 54.3%. On the other hand, changes in the distribution channels are also worth noting. By the end of 2025, TANBOER had 561 permanent offline stores in China, with 272 of them being self-operated stores. However, the real growth engine comes from online channels. In the past three years, online channel revenue soared from 349 million yuan to 1.254 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of nearly 90%, and the revenue share increased from 34.1% to 57.3%. The revenue share of online self-operated stores increased from 23.0% to 46.3%, becoming the company's largest single sales channel. This is partly due to the company's deep layout on platforms like Douyin and Tmall, including livestreaming sales and KOL collaborations, marking a shift from a traditional offline clothing brand to a new retail model with omni-channel integration. It is worth noting that the gross profit margin of online channels improved from 48.7% in 2023 to 55.7% in 2025, indicating that the company has made significant progress in online operating efficiency and product pricing capabilities. However, there is still a gap compared to the offline channel's gross profit margin of 58.9%, suggesting that the online channel currently relies more on volume, and the establishment of brand premiums is not yet fully realized. As the "niche" track becomes increasingly crowded, can TANBOER carve out a piece of the pie? Previously, home isolation and health anxiety led consumers to bypass long market cultivation and dive straight into their desire for the outdoors. Overnight, the outdoors transformed from a hobby to a spiritual tonic. Camping was the starting point of the boom, as when people could only seek solace and novelty within a limited geographical radius, urban parks and nearby mountains and countryside became new outlets. Subsequently, a more diverse outdoor sports scene including skiing, frisbee, paddleboarding, and land diving rapidly unfolded. Stimulated by demand, the supply side experienced explosive growth. In 2025, the Chinese professional outdoor clothing market reached 152.3 billion yuan, growing at a compound annual rate of 16.4% since 2020. Benefiting from the overall growth of the industry market size, TANBOER is the seventh largest professional outdoor clothing brand in China by retail sales volume in 2025, with a market share of 2.2%. According to the same data source, based on 2025 retail sales, the company is the fourth largest domestic professional outdoor clothing brand in China, holding a market share of 5.0%. On the other side of the "outdoor boom," the industry competition is becoming increasingly fierce, and structural opportunities do not automatically the company's competitive advantage. Currently, international high-end brands firmly dominate the top market, with international brands like Arc'teryx, The North Face, and Columbia leading in technology. Chinese brands like KAILAS and Toread Holdings Group capture the value-for-money market. TANBOER, ranking only seventh, faces multiples gaps to the industry leader. At the same time, other domestic sportswear giants like Anta, Li-Ning, and Bosideng are aggressively expanding into the outdoor track, squeezing the living space of small and medium players with their advantages in funds, brands, and channels. The establishment of brand awareness and the high-end image require continuous product investment and marketing accumulation. To continue to break through and consolidate its market position, TANBOER still faces numerous challenges. At this juncture, TANBOER's strategic path is clear: continue to tilt towards high-margin professional outdoor series in product offerings, continue to increase the proportion of online self-operated channels, and explore overseas markets, with Southeast Asia being the representative. The management stated in the prospectus that the funds raised from this IPO will be mainly used to strengthen research and development capabilities, expand sales networks, enhance brand awareness, and upgrade information systems. If the company can maintain high revenue growth while gradually reducing the sales expense ratio and improving inventory turnover, its market share is expected to further increase, thereby driving performance and fundamental strength. However, if marketing spending remains high, and brand recognition and market advantages are not established, the viability of high growth rates may face challenges. It can be expected that TANBOER's IPO marks Chinese domestic professional outdoor clothing brands accelerating their entry into the capital market, but the true winner in this track still needs time to validate.