Amid the dual challenges of macroeconomic fluctuations and industry restructuring, how can enterprises break through growth bottlenecks and build a sustainable development model? In the first half of 2025, China Qidian Guofeng Holdings Limited (01280.HK), with liquor and education & training as its twin pillars, deeply integrated AI technology with the OMO (Online-Merge-Offline) model. Leveraging policy dividends and channel innovation, the company successfully built a new AI-empowered consumer platform. Its strategic transformation has delivered remarkable results, laying a solid foundation for long-term growth.

Revenue Growing Steadily, Losses Narrowing, Structural Optimization Driving Profitability Improvement

In the first half of 2025, Qidian Guofeng’s diversified businesses demonstrated a synergistic growth momentum, continuing the trajectory of its previous strategic layout and achieving new breakthroughs through technological empowerment and model innovation.

According to the interim results, Qidian Guofeng recorded total revenue of RMB 181 million in the first half of 2025, representing a year-on-year increase of 4.6%, maintaining steady growth amid a complex market environment. During the period, the company reported a net loss of RMB 21.95 million, a significant narrowing of 42.1% compared with the same period last year, reflecting a marked improvement in profitability. The gross profit margin rose from 18.9% in the prior-year period to 20.5%, an increase of 1.6 percentage points, further enhancing earnings quality.

The education & training business continued to make breakthroughs in its own field and advanced in synergy with the Baijiu business, becoming a strong engine for the company’s growth. In the first half of 2025, the revenue from financial literacy education reached RMB 40.64 million, a substantial YoY increase of 119.3%, achieving countercyclical growth. In the home appliance consumption segment, the company’s total home appliance revenue in the first half of 2025 reached RMB 124 million, compared with RMB 118 million in 2024, a YoY growth of 5.1%, maintaining a steady growth trend.  

This performance result stems from the company’s refined operation of the entire business chain. By deeply integrating large AI models into Baijiu brewing and product marketing, it has accurately improved operational efficiency and core competitiveness, injecting strong impetus into business growth. As a key first year for the verification and implementation of this business logic, 2025 has laid a solid foundation for large-scale growth in the future.  

Focusing on Sauce-aroma Baijiu Business, Achieving Counter-Cyclical Growth through Channel Breakthroughs  

In terms of Baijiu business, despite industry adjustments and short-term revenue pressure, China Qidian Guofeng firmly adhered to its strategic direction, positioning the Sauce-aroma Baijiu business as the core engine of its main growth curve. Focusing on the two strategic priorities of strengthening dealer system construction and deepening the Sauce-aroma Baijiu market, it made active layouts and advanced steadily, laying a solid foundation for structural growth in the "industry winter".  

According to the interim results report, China Qidian Guofeng achieved leapfrog breakthroughs in sales channel construction and model innovation, and built a new pattern of global collaborative growth through multiple initiatives.  

Guofeng Liquor Company Limited, a subsidiary of the company, was assessed at the "Huazun Cup" at the end of 2024, with a brand value exceeding RMB 8.1 billion. This achievement not only relies on the reputation endorsement of the Gold Award at the ISGC 2023 International Spirits Competition and the title of "Top 10 Cost-Effective Brands of Chinese Sauce-aroma Baijiu” but also benefits from three core strategies.

The first is the DOOH model of advertising placement on large screens in core urban CBDs and transportation hubs. The second is the model combining the positioning of "high quality at affordable prices" with private domain traffic to build unique market competitiveness. The company innovatively launched the "Sheng you hui" model, which focuses on three core initiatives: supply chain support, brand resource sharing, and digital operation empowerment. It provides comprehensive support and assistance to partners, building a business community featuring "low threshold, high guarantee, and long-term returns", further integrating industry resources and promoting the collaborative development of the industrial chain. Notably, the official opening of the first store in Fuyang, Hangzhou marks the successful offline implementation of the company’s private domain traffic pool, closing the loop of online-offline user interaction and services; at the "China Baijiu Era Transformation Summit Forum" held in August, the company officially launched the "Huakai Shared Liquor Warehouse - Shengyou Club" store upgrading plan. With its innovative operation ideas and efficient resource integration capabilities, this plan is widely regarded by the industry as a benchmark practice for channel operation in the Baijiu industry. The third is the in-depth penetration of the AI technology model into production and marketing. In March 2025, it signed a strategic agreement with Maifushi (02556.HK), a leading AI enterprise, to jointly build a vertical AI large model for the Sauce-aroma Baijiu industry.  

In general, in the first half of 2025, China Qidian Guofeng has enabled its diversified businesses to move from parallel development to in-depth synergy through three major measures: high business growth, technology internalization, and leveraging policies, laying a solid foundation for the strategic goal of building an "AI-empowered OMO new consumer platform".  

DOOH Omni-channel Traffic Acquisition, Building a Stronghold for Brand Exposure

In terms of brand communication, China Qidian Guofeng Holdings Limited has innovatively implemented the DOOH (Digital-out-of-Home) model. With large screens in core urban CBDs (Central Business Districts) and transportation hubs as the core carriers, it has built a global advertising placement strategy to create a super traffic entrance with efficient reach for "Shengjiu" (Sheng Liquor). Recently, large-screen advertisements for Shengjiu, the Baijiu (Chinese liquor) brand under China Qidian Guofeng Holdings Limited, can be seen at high-speed railway stations in major cities and on the facades of skyscrapers in some cities. For instance, in Futian District, Shenzhen, the facades of numerous CBD buildings form a massive advertising array, which is spectacular and has attracted many white-collar workers working in nearby office buildings to watch and take photos. This activity coincided with the 45th anniversary of Shenzhen as a city; the red background of Shengjiu and its brand slogan "Cheers to Victory" added a festive atmosphere to the celebration.

Under the global advertising placement strategy implemented by China Qidian Guofeng, in terms of airport advertising placement, it covers a total of 24 provinces/municipalities, 48 airports, and 2 urban areas, with a total of 1,302 traditional and electronic media advertising screens placed, including 256 traditional media screens and 1,046 electronic media screens. At the same time, large-screen promotions for Shengjiu have recently appeared at high-speed railway stations in many cities, such as Guangzhou South Station, Nanchang West Station, Fuzhou, Baotou, Kanas, and Kuqa, attracting many passengers to stop and take photos.  

This model of placing advertisements on large screens in public transportation hubs or core urban CBDs is commonly known as the Digital-out-of-Home (DOOH) model. For products like Baijiu that combine traditional heritage with modern commercial attributes, the strategy of digital placement in core urban landmarks and transportation hubs such as high-speed railways and airports has multiple significant advantages. The global placement strategy not only greatly expands the brand reach of China Qidian Guofeng in scenarios such as core urban landmarks and high-speed railway/airport hubs, but also shapes market awareness through continuous and extensive exposure, deepens consumer trust, and thereby consolidates its industry influence.  

First, it can achieve high audience matching. The consumer group of high-end Baijiu is mainly high-net-worth individuals and business people, and the large screens in CBDs and transportation hubs directly target this group. They are the core decision-makers for high-end Baijiu consumption, with strong purchasing power and decision-making power for business banquets, gift-giving, or personal consumption.  

Second, the giant LED screens in core urban CBDs and transportation hubs are themselves a symbol of an enterprise’s economic strength. A brand appearing here is equivalent to declaring its industry status and quality endorsement.  

Third, outdoor large screens can create a strong visual impact and build a powerful brand presence. Ultra-high-definition large-scale dynamic videos can fully showcase the crystal-clear liquor body, exquisite bottle design, historical heritage, and cultural atmosphere of Baijiu.  

Finally, outdoor large-screen advertisements can trigger "event-level" marketing, forming a check-in effect and secondary communication. For example, the advertising array of Guofeng Liquor on the outer wall of the core CBD in Futian, Shenzhen became an event widely discussed on social networks. Passers-by will spontaneously take videos and photos and share them on platforms such as Xiaohongshu, Douyin, and Weibo, thereby expanding the traffic and influence scope, realizing secondary or even multiple communications from offline to online, and greatly expanding the reach of the advertisement.  

At present, the promotion of leading mainstream Baijiu brands still mainly relies on TV advertisements, especially during the prime time of CCTV (e.g., before and after the "News Network"); while some new Baijiu brands targeting young people place advertisements on online video software. Few brands use LED large screens in open public spaces for placement, and Shengjiu is one of them.  

However, it should be noted that methods such as advertising during CCTV’s prime time and online video placement mostly repeatedly strengthen brand awareness among existing customer groups, making it difficult to achieve a "breakthrough" effect. In contrast, promotion through DOOH can reach more people, which is the most effective and efficient way for Shengjiu, which is just in the commercial introduction period. In the future, brand promotion will become a traffic entrance for China Qidian Guofeng’s business system. This is why the company’s DOOH advertising campaign this time is not a one-time hot event, but a regular annual activity.  

Driving Payment Innovation with Partners, Co-building a Sustainable Future Across the Value Chain

On August 29, the company issued an announcement stating that it had entered into a three-year advertising agreement with Junxiang, which will provide advertising media services for airport terminals and high-speed railway stations for the placement of Shengjiu advertisements. The total service fee for three years is RMB 450 million, and the company will pay RMB 150 million annually, of which the payment for the first year will be settled with 33,610,009 consideration shares. Notably, in terms of the payment method for advertising placement, China Qidian Guofeng innovatively adopted the equity payment model. This measure not only optimizes the company’s cash flow structure, but also demonstrates the high recognition of industry partners for the company’s development prospects.  

From an industry perspective, the fact that advertising partners are willing to accept equity payment essentially reflects their recognition of China Qidian Guofeng’s business model and growth potential, as they are optimistic about the company’s development strategy and market prospects. Moreover, this capital-level cooperation model deeply binds the interests of advertising service providers with the company, forming a long-term cooperation mechanism of "risk sharing and profit sharing", which has more strategic value than one-time cash transactions.  

The implementation of a series of innovative measures has enabled China Qidian Guofeng to build a complete business logic of "traffic entrance - private domain conversion - technology empowerment - ecological win-win" with DOOH at its core. In the future, with the advancement of regular DOOH placement and the improvement of the partner ecosystem, the company will further consolidate its industry influence and provide a replicable new model for brand marketing and resource integration in the Baijiu industry.  

Acquiring an AI Technology Company to Empower the OMO New Consumption Platform

After traffic is acquired, conversion becomes the top priority. In the current AI era, it is a necessary step and arrangement to empower the business closed loop with artificial intelligence to improve operational conversion efficiency.  

In March 2025, China Qidian Guofeng signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Maifushi (02556.HK), a leading AI enterprise, announcing the joint construction of a vertical AI large model for the Sauce-aroma Baijiu industry, which will fully integrate artificial intelligence technology into the entire chain of Baijiu production and marketing.  

In early July, China Qidian Guofeng announced its plan to acquire a company mainly engaged in AI network technology business, whose core business focuses on AI-empowered services for interest-based e-commerce. The overall valuation of the target company ranges from HK$ 350 million to HK$ 500 million. The board of directors believes that the potential acquisition is highly in line with the group’s strategic development direction of building an AI-empowered OMO new consumer platform. The target company’s mature artificial intelligence technology capabilities and innovative business model in the field of interest-based e-commerce can form a significant synergistic effect with the group’s existing businesses.  

By integrating the AI-empowered new retail technology and artificial intelligence algorithm capabilities of the target group, the group is expected to accelerate the layout of online-offline omni-channel integration, expand the scope of user coverage, and build a sustainable new revenue growth engine. The directors believe that if the potential acquisition is implemented, it will effectively strengthen the group’s core competitive barriers and create a strategic fulcrum for the enhancement of long-term shareholder value.  

Specifically, the business of the target company to be acquired is divided into two categories: first, data analysis and live-streaming e-commerce services; second, external seller operation and management services. Among them, the data analysis business involves its self-developed AI algorithms, covering user behavior analysis, automatic generation of short videos and live-streaming scripts, and accurate matching of products, content, and audiences in the interest-oriented e-commerce ecosystem through an algorithm engine. This part of the business forms an in-depth synergistic relationship with China Qidian Guofeng’s online expansion and marketing model. In China Qidian Guofeng’s business system, both the Baijiu and education & training businesses use modern networked marketing and OMO expansion models, which are supported by data analysis. Especially in the AI era, the empowerment of artificial intelligence technology has further improved the accuracy of data analysis and the targeting of sales.  

Business Logic Proven in Practice, Growth Potential Continues to Be Unlocked

2025 is a key year for verifying China Qidian Guofeng’s business model. The first-half performance shows that its business logic has achieved self-consistency, and the business closed loop operates efficiently.  

Through the dual-core driven strategy of "traffic entrance construction + technology-empowered conversion", the company has formed a full-link collaborative system from traffic acquisition to value realization, demonstrating significant internet-based business characteristics.  

Specifically, the company has built a traffic entrance and conversion system through two core initiatives: on the one hand, relying on the acquired AI technology company to output a powerful technology platform, it continuously provides big data analysis and sales management tools, significantly improving the accuracy of traffic conversion and overall efficiency; on the other hand, it extensively places digital outdoor advertisements in core urban CBDs and transportation hubs, with the "high quality at affordable prices" experience of its Baijiu brand "Shengjiu" as the traffic acquisition carrier, successfully achieving the simultaneous optimization of customer unit price and operational efficiency. Among them, as the core traffic entrance, DOOH not only opens up a new market situation for "Shengjiu", but also provides support for China Qidian Guofeng to launch breakthrough innovations in cooperation models.  

Relying on its highly internet-based business platform, various business segments of China Qidian Guofeng have demonstrated significant synergistic effects. This not only confirms the feasibility of its business model, but also highlights the strategic foresight of the management. From the perspective of the capital market, the company already has the core characteristics of internet enterprises, such as stable traffic acquisition, efficient conversion capabilities, and increased customer unit price, providing a clear underlying logic for its valuation. The previously announced plan to acquire an AI technology company received a positive response from the capital market, with its market value showing a steady upward trend. In the eyes of investors, China Qidian Guofeng is not a simple superposition of businesses, but an organically connected whole.  

With the normalization of digital outdoor advertising placement, the in-depth integration of AI technology, and the further release of synergistic effects, the growth potential of China Qidian Guofeng will be continuously realized. Its business logic of "traffic-driven, technology-empowered, and ecological synergy" is steadily becoming an innovative benchmark for cross-domain resource integration.