So-Young International (NASDAQ:SY) used its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call to outline what management described as a “strategic turning point” for 2026, as the company continues to scale its branded aesthetic center network while shifting focus toward improved profitability and operating efficiency.
Industry backdrop and strategic focus
Founder, Chairman, and CEO Xing Jin said China’s medical aesthetic industry experienced “structural adjustments” in 2025 as upstream capacity expanded and consumers became more value-driven. He characterized the environment as a “return to value,” creating an opportunity for companies that can build scaled, repeatable models and deliver trusted service.
Q4 revenue growth driven by aesthetic centers
Vice President of Finance Sha Zhang reported fourth-quarter revenue of RMB 460.7 million, up 24.8% year-over-year. Jin cited total revenue of RMB 461 million and said it marked a record-high quarterly revenue for the company.
The quarter’s growth was primarily attributed to the branded aesthetic center business. Revenue from aesthetic treatment services reached RMB 248.1 million, up 205.3% year-over-year, and surpassed 50% of total revenue contribution for the first time, according to Zhang. Management also said the segment exceeded the high end of guidance for a third consecutive quarter and came in about 10% above the high end of guidance in Q4.
By year-end 2025, the company operated 49 laser medical aesthetic centers across 15 major cities, with a net addition of 10 centers during the quarter. Jin said SoYoung Clinic became the largest laser medical aesthetic chain in China by number of centers.
Operational metrics: visits, center economics, and profitability indicators
Management highlighted improvements in both scale and operating performance at the center level. In the fourth quarter, verified treatment visits exceeded 125,000, up 178% year-over-year, while verified aesthetic treatments performed exceeded 289,400, up 168% year-over-year. Total active users surpassed 170,000 as of the end of December.
Zhang broke down aesthetic treatment services revenue by center development phase:
- 17 mature phase centers: RMB 142.5 million in revenue, or about RMB 8.4 million per center
- 19 growth phase centers: RMB 89.0 million in revenue, or about RMB 4.7 million per center
- 13 ramp-up phase centers: RMB 16.6 million in revenue
Zhang noted that average revenue per center nearly doubles as locations progress from growth phase to maturity, and said the company sees a “built-in revenue growth driver” as more growth-phase centers mature.
On profitability indicators, management said 25 centers achieved profitability in Q4 and 39 centers generated positive operating cash flow. Zhang added that 16 of the profitable centers were in the mature phase, and said profitability has “consistently followed” as centers move through their development cycle.
For 2026, Jin said the company plans to open at least 35 new centers, with deeper density in core cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, while expanding in second-tier cities.
Medical delivery, compliance, and data security initiatives
Jin said So-Young continued investing in medical service delivery during the quarter across physician staffing, compliance, and data security.
By year-end 2025, the company’s full-time physician team expanded to 211, up 41% from the end of Q3, which management said ranked first among peers by physician count. Management said all physicians have a public-hospital background and must pass internal standardized certification before practicing. More than half hold attending physician qualifications or higher, and the team averages more than six years of clinical experience. Jin also said physicians with at least one year at So-Young delivered more than 6,200 treatments per physician.
For 2026, Jin said the company will launch a physician initiative aimed at accelerating recruitment and building a talent pipeline through hands-on practice opportunities, training, and a clear career path.
On governance, management said it established a six-pillar compliance framework and a regular inspection mechanism, supported by digital tools to make medical service delivery fully traceable. On data security, management said So-Young became the first in the industry to obtain the personal information protection impact assessment (PIA) certification.
Supply chain, product strategy, and marketing
Management emphasized supply chain scale and partnerships as a key lever. As of Q4, So-Young worked with 18 top-tier domestic device suppliers and had procured nearly 1,400 devices. For injectables, it reported 42 upstream partners and cumulative procurement of more than 700,000 units.
Jin said upstream product supply expanded in 2025, citing that China’s National Medical Products Administration approved more than 50 Class III medical device certificates for the year, up more than 60% year-over-year. Management said broader supply improved product selection, procurement costs, and user experience, and it described establishing long-term partnerships with volume-price linkage mechanisms that help secure favorable procurement pricing.
On product initiatives, management said it launched a “lighter” version of a product based on its existing offering, and said it is the exclusive distributor of Xihong Biopharma’s HA solution, which was approved for marketing in China. It also discussed marketing efforts for BBL treatments, including a co-branded campaign with The Little Prince IP that included celebrity experiences, pop-up events, and Xiaohongshu (RED) influencer store visits. Management said the pop-up generated about 2 million on-site visits and Xiaohongshu exposure exceeded 14 million.
Management said its “blockbuster” product strategy continued to gain traction, with four major products contributing more than 37% of revenue in Q4 and showing sequential growth.
Outside the aesthetic center segment, Zhang reported year-over-year declines in other segments in the fourth quarter: information and reservation services revenue fell 26.8% to RMB 125.7 million, medical products and maintenance services revenue declined 19.9% to RMB 69.3 million, and other services revenue decreased 40.7% to RMB 17.7 million.
Looking ahead, the company guided first-quarter 2026 aesthetic treatment services revenue to RMB 268 million to RMB 278 million, representing year-over-year growth of 171.2% to 181.3%. Zhang said that, as of the call date, the network had crossed the 50-center milestone, and that management intends in 2026 to balance expansion with profitability improvement while adding no fewer than 35 new centers.
On the balance sheet, Zhang said cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, term deposits and short-term investments totaled RMB 936.4 million as of December 31, 2025, down from RMB 1,253.2 million a year earlier, primarily reflecting accelerated investment in branded aesthetic center expansion.
In Q&A, management attributed gross margin performance to three main factors: the pace of new center openings, consumable costs, and seasonal promotions. It said it plans to smooth the opening cadence, optimize consumable costs through deeper upstream partnerships and scale-based bargaining power, and refine promotional activity by tying campaigns more closely to membership behavior. Management also said the company’s annual customer acquisition cost was kept below 10% of revenue, which it described as competitive, and it highlighted a referral-driven approach and membership benefits as key drivers.
Separately, responding to questions on second-tier cities, Jin said centers in those markets have shown “good growth,” with traffic and treatments per customer increasing and revenue close to first-tier levels. He cited Wuhan Tiandi and Changsha Desiqin as mature second-tier city locations and said newer second-tier openings such as Raffles City Ningbo and Suzhou Suyue Plaza performed strongly, noting Suzhou Suyue Plaza surpassed RMB 1 million in monthly revenue within three months of opening. He added that mature second-tier centers can see slightly higher margins due to lower rent and payroll costs.
About So-Young International (NASDAQ:SY)
So-Young International Inc operates a leading digital marketplace and community platform focused on the medical aesthetic industry in China. Headquartered in Shanghai and founded in 2013, the company connects consumers seeking cosmetic treatments with a network of accredited clinics, licensed physicians and beauty service providers. Its online ecosystem offers a wealth of educational content, peer reviews and before-and-after galleries designed to help users make informed decisions about aesthetic procedures.
The company’s platform is accessible via web and mobile applications, where users can browse service packages, compare providers, read expert articles and schedule appointments directly through an integrated booking system.
