From Tools to Productivity: YOUZAN (06051) Accelerates Full-Chain AI Commercialization and Shifts Growth Cycles

On August 13, YOUZAN (06051) disclosed its performance for the first half of 2026. During the reporting period, the company achieved total revenue of approximately 770 million yuan (RMB, same hereafter), representing a year-on-year growth of about 8%. Adjusted EBITDA was approximately 72.74 million yuan, with net operating cash inflow of approximately 47.15 million yuan, reflecting a robust financial foundation. More significantly, as of the end of the reporting period, the number of merchants using YOUZAN AI products had surpassed 20,000, marking the formal entry of AI services into the stage of commercial monetization. The GMV of the store business increased by approximately 13% year-on-year to about 28.8 billion yuan, becoming the core driving force behind the overall growth. This financial report reflects not just a marginal improvement in short-term financial metrics but also a fundamental restructuring of the underlying business logic that YOUZAN, as a SaaS company, is undergoingnamely, advancing the value delivery from "functional subscription" to "growth effect" through AI-native intelligent agents. As AI digital employees are deeply embedded in the entire process of customer acquisition, conversion, repurchase, and operations for merchants, YOUZAN's long-term value anchor is shifting from the traditional software service provider logic to a more imaginative AI-driven merchant operational efficiency infrastructure represented by Hangzhou XZB Tech, which is also facing a systemic re-evaluation of its valuation system. From selling functional modules to selling growth: Accelerating AI strategy fully advances long-term value anchoring to a stronger footing. In the first half of 2026, YOUZAN accomplished a crucial leap from strategic investment to scaled output, transforming AI from a technological reserve into a core engine driving revenue growth. Following the formal commercialization and fee charging of AI products, merchant penetration rates and core operational metrics have seen significant improvement, validating the effectiveness of the company's strategic pathway. Performance on the revenue side confirms this assessment. During the reporting period, YOUZAN generated total revenue of approximately 770 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.8%. Revenue from subscription solutions was about 400 million yuan, up 7.2%, benefiting from the steady contribution of existing paying merchants and continuous improvement in average revenue per user (ARPU). The subscription package fees and custom product fees achieved steady growth, while the commercialization efforts of AI also provided additional support for revenue increases. Revenue from merchant solutions reached approximately 370 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.7%, outperforming the overall growth rate, driven by increased order volumes from enhanced penetration of YOUZAN's logistics solutions and steady scaling of contract operation services with business expansion. This dual-line advancement and balanced growth have collectively established a solid foundation for YOUZAN's accelerating revenue growth. This achievement owes to YOUZAN's systematic construction of AI capabilities. Centered around AI-native intelligent agents, YOUZAN has built a comprehensive AI system covering four key areas: customer acquisition, conversion, repurchase, and operations, enabling AI products to deeply integrate into the core business processes of merchantsan essential systemic advantage that most AI tools, which only focus on single-point efficiency, lack. This moat is driving YOUZAN to fundamentally shift its value anchoring. In the traditional SaaS era, merchants paid for "function modules"; however, in the AI era, deliverables are upgraded from "software tools" to "operational capabilities"merchants purchase the operational tasks that digital employees can complete and the actual growth they achieve. The rapid adoption of paying merchants marks a high recognition of this value proposition in the market. As AI products transition from validation to scaling, YOUZAN's growth center is expected to continue to ascend, with its long-term value anchoring shifting from software service providers to AI-driven merchant operational efficiency infrastructure. From "single-point efficiency" to "whole-chain operations": AI-native intelligent agents achieve deep breakthroughs, forging full-chain digital productivity. The accelerated growth on the revenue side confirms the market effectiveness of YOUZAN's AI strategy, and the underlying capabilities that support this growth stem from the systematic leap of AI products from single-point functionality to holistic operational management. In the first half of 2026, YOUZAN completed this qualitative transformationAI-native intelligent agents have evolved from auxiliary tools into digital productivity that spans the entire chain of merchant operations, deeply integrating into the four core processes of customer acquisition, conversion, repurchase, and operations, truly realizing a strategic upgrade from "single-point efficiency" to "whole-chain operations." From the product layout perspective, YOUZAN's core AI-native intelligent agents, including Lobster, AI Customer Sales, and Add Me Recommendation Officer, correspond to three major scenarios: store operations, sales conversion, and brand customer acquisition, forming a complete product matrix that covers the entire chain of merchant operations. The commercial value of this matrix lies in the fact that individual AI products solve efficiency problems of specific segments, while the matrix layout generates synergistic effects across all stages of merchant operationsdata from the customer acquisition end can drive precise marketing on the conversion end, conversion data can feedback into the repurchase strategies, and operational decision optimization runs through the entire process. This data + AI closed-loop capability is a systemic advantage that no single-point AI tool can provide. It is precisely this systemic advantage that is substantively enhancing merchants' operational quality and willingness to pay. During the reporting period, the number of merchants using AI products surpassed 20,000, with the average sales volume per merchant being about 1 million yuan, a year-on-year growth of 8%. The improvement in merchant operational quality is directly reflected in retention and renewal ratesAI products have shown high user retention and a healthy renewal trend, validating the market acceptance of this value proposition. When AI shifts from being an "optional plugin" to a "standard operational requirement," merchants payment logic transitions from "considering whether to buy" to "must-have for operations," which is the core driver of increased transaction value and revenue growth. The difficulty of replicating this business model lies in YOUZAN's establishment of a trinity barrier of "scenes + data + AI." General large model vendors lack in-depth understanding of industry know-how and merchant operational scenarios, while traditional SaaS vendors lack fundamental AI capabilities and data accumulation. YOUZAN, however, stands at the intersection of bothover ten years of SaaS infrastructure combined with real operational data from over 50,000 merchants and its own AI-native intelligent agent system form a moat that competitors cannot easily surpass in the short term. Returning to the growth potential, the holistic operational AI capabilities open a larger value ceiling for YOUZAN. Single-point efficiency AI tools can only charge limited functionality fees, while whole-chain operational AI digital employees can participate throughout the merchant operation process, significantly enhancing value creation capabilities, which naturally leads to higher willingness to pay and transaction values. As the AI product matrix continues to improve and penetration rates increase, YOUZAN's cross-selling opportunities among the existing 51,633 paying merchants remain vast, supplemented by incremental markets in store operations and local living, signifying that holistic operational AI capabilities are becoming the core driver of YOUZAN's long-term growth. From "software subscriptions" to "performance-based payments": Innovation in computing power packages breaks through and energizes a new growth cycle. With the enhancement of the AI product matrix and the deepening use by merchants, the traditional function-based fee model can no longer support larger growth prospects. YOUZAN needs a matching commercialization system to transform whole-chain digital productivity into sustainable revenue growth. The computing power package model has emerged in this context. In the first half of 2026, YOUZAN officially launched the commercialization of AI products, adopting a unified computing power package modelmerchants do not need to pay separately for individual AI functionalities but instead purchase a unified computing power package that allows all AI products to share the allocated quota, billed based on actual consumption. The introduction of this model marks the evolutionary transition from software subscriptions to performance-based payments. The commercial value of this model lies in achieving a win-win for all parties. For merchants, the computing power package lowers the barrier to trying AI, as they do not need to make large upfront purchases of multiple functional modules but can pay based on actual consumption, keeping costs transparent and controllable. For YOUZAN, the computing power package generates more stable recurring revenue, with deeper merchant engagement leading to ongoing power consumption and an increase in customer lifetime value. For investors, the revenue model transitions from fixed subscriptions to flexible consumption-based billing, where revenue growth is positively correlated with the operational activity of merchants, resulting in a healthier and more sustainable business model. The path of YOUZAN's AI transformation is becoming clear: strategically, from selling functionalities to selling growth; in products, from single-point efficiency to holistic operations; and commercially, from software subscriptions to performance-based payments. These three layers of logic support each other, collectively propelling YOUZAN's strategic leap from a SaaS tool provider to an AI digital employee service provider. As AI products continue to permeate and the computing power package model scales up, YOUZAN's new growth cycle is poised for takeoff. In summary, the comprehensive rollout of AI strategy, deep breakthroughs in product matrix, and systematic upgrades to business modelYOUZAN is clearly implementing the transformation of AI digital employees from vision to an indispensable infrastructure in merchant operations. As the computing power package model continues to scale and AI penetration rates accelerate, YOUZAN's new growth cycle has already commenced, with its strategic value as a core infrastructure for AI-enabled merchant operations being re-recognized and re-priced by the market.