Evaluation of Profitability in Chinese Snack Food Enterprises: A DuPont Empirical Analysis

Abstract

With the improvement in Chinese residents' consumption capacity and the leisure food market's scale surpassing one trillion yuan, the industry has shown rapid growth. However, domestic companies still face challenges in areas such as brand influence, technological research and development, and management experience. This paper takes Three Squirrels, Bestore, and YanJin Shop as research subjects and systematically evaluates the differences in profitability and their driving factors from 2019 to 2023 using the DuPont analysis method. The net return on equity (ROE) is decomposed into net profit margin, total asset turnover, and equity multiplier. The study finds that YanJin Shop, by optimizing cost control and adopting a differentiated product strategy, increased its ROE from 17.93% in 2019 to 39.34% in 2023, demonstrating strong profit potential. Bestore, due to intensified market competition and cost pressures, saw its ROE decrease continuously from 27.02% to 7.32%, highlighting the sustainability risks of its profit model. Three Squirrels' ROE exhibited cyclical fluctuations, with a decline in asset turnover efficiency and tighter financial leverage causing its ROE to drop sharply to 5.61% in 2022. However, its capital structure stability improved. Further analysis indicates that the differences in corporate profitability stem from variations in market positioning, asset operation efficiency, and financial leverage strategies. Based on this, this paper suggests constructing a differentiated product structure, expanding diverse consumption scenarios, strengthening multi-channel synergies, and innovating marketing strategies to help companies balance financial risks and growth needs, thereby enhancing industry competitiveness. This study provides theoretical and empirical evidence for leisure food companies to optimize their profit models and achieve sustainable development.