CBO reporter Guo Fen
In addition to product marketing and packaging design, product innovation is the key idea for domestic perfumes to break through the market.
Recently, Firmenich, one of the three major international flavor and fragrance giants, announced the signing of a new strategic partnership agreement with Chinese new retail brand HARMAY. At that time, Jiemei will enter the high-end perfume industry.
"China is expected to be at the forefront of the global premium perfume market, with many local brands emerging and consumer usage significantly increasing, especially for Gen Z." Ju Chunmao, co-founder of Yuemei, said that he hopes to play a key role in driving this growth and achieve greater innovation and creativity through the synergy between Yuemei and Firmenich.
01
The perfume track is hot
Domestic niche brands have emerged
In fact, with the rise of the olfactory economy and the change in consumer consumption habits of The Z era, China's perfume market is growing significantly.
Euromonitor data shows that China's perfume market in 2015-2020 compound annual growth rate of 14.9%, the next 5 years is expected to reach 22.5%, by 2025, China's perfume market retail sales will climb to 30 billion yuan, the growth rate will be about 3 times the global market.
Under this trend, foreign perfume manufacturers, such as Firmenich, Givaudan, etc. have successively entered the Chinese market, looking for opportunities to put into production in China; some international brands have also settled in, such as the French fragrance L'Artisan Parfumeur Attisimxiang, the British perfume brand Penhaligon's PanHailigen, the European fragrance brand BYREDO, etc. have also entered the Chinese market in recent years and achieved good sales results.
Chinese practitioners who see this market opportunity have also begun to tap into this segment. Many domestic local cutting-edge brands have gradually emerged, from the early smell library, Guan Xia, Scentooze three rabbits to wenxian, house seventeen, secret door and so on. According to enterprise investigation data, there are more than 90,000 perfume-related enterprises in China today.
At the same time, capital also shows an optimistic and positive signal for this market. Capitals such as Gaolang and CITIC invest in these cutting-edge brands. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently more than 7 domestic perfume brands that have received more than 12 rounds of financing. Among them, the smell library that locates "tandem smell and memory" and the Scentooze Santu, which focuses on the fragrance of the yuanqi maiden, have received three rounds of financing respectively.
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Keywords: oriental aesthetics, good looking, not cheap
When perfume brands are pouring into the market like a tidal wave, how does the consumer market react to it?
According to data, the overall beauty economy affected by the epidemic in 2020 declined, but perfume products are against the wind, and the perfume category in the first half of 2020 is growing by more than 33%, becoming one of the hottest beauty categories. The recognition of domestic perfume brands has increased year by year, and the daily average value of the aromatherapy Baidu search index in 2021 has reached 670, far exceeding the search average of 500, and the search notes related to "perfume" in Xiaohongshu search have reached 1.85 million+.
At the same time as the popularity of perfume has risen, these cutting-edge brands have also become popular stars because they meet the needs and aesthetic tastes of Chinese consumers, and many consumers spontaneously plant grass on social platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Weibo. Even, brands such as Guanxia and Fushengtang, because of the limited sales volume, best-selling hot products once reached the level of consumer rush purchase.
So what are the characteristics of these popular brands? Why is it able to reach the hearts of this generation of discerning consumers?
"Cosmetics Finance Online" searched for ten popular brands on the little red book and found the common features of these brands.
△ List of some domestic perfume brands
First of all, these brands are more artistic and oriental in their positioning, showing the cultural self-confidence and personalized characteristics promoted by a new generation of consumers. Among the product positioning of ten brands, oriental aesthetics, Chinese plants, personalized expression, etc. are their keywords. Among them, many brands such as Fuxiangtang, UTTORI Wuduoli, Guanxia Tosummer and other brands are mainly inspired by oriental plants and aesthetics in terms of positioning or product series, and can integrate literature, poetry and other arts into perfumes.
△ Wu DuoLi "Moss Garden"
For example, the star fragrance series "Chinese Garden Series" in Wuduoli is named after the unique artistic conception of the East, such as "Bamboo Path" and "Moss Garden", which not only creates the aesthetic atmosphere of the East, but also brings surprises to consumers. The "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest" and the "Peking Opera Series" in the RE Perfume Room also show the profound Chinese culture.
△ RE perfume room "Peking Opera Series"
Secondly, in terms of packaging design, these new brands are different from the original traditional brands. Their expression is more concise and individual, mostly presented in minimalist style, cool tones, etc., showing an innate sense of alienation and niche, expressing a unique, stream-of-consciousness philosophical style, and meeting the emotional needs of consumers. Many consumers shouted: "too good-looking", "love at a glance", "look at the packaging to buy".
In addition, in the sales channels of products, many cutting-edge brands have a clear trend of combining online and offline and walking on two legs. Although the new brand originated online, in order to better shape the scene and highlight the brand tone, most brands choose to settle in the offline, and even brands such as RE Perfume Room, Guanxia Tosummer, DOCUMENTS Wenxian and other brands have opened independent brand stores. It is worth noting that in terms of price, the pricing of cutting-edge brands is not stuck in the traditional price segment, but more biased towards the middle and high-end, of which SYNESMOON's "romantic godfather couture perfume" is as high as 5,000 yuan.
△ SYNESMOON "The Godfather of Romance"
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Product innovation is fundamental to brand building
"With the rise of national cultural self-confidence, domestic perfume has ushered in a good development opportunity, or will become another opportunity point in the field of beauty." An agent in Hubei said that in fact, the perfume quality of domestic brands is not bad, but because the brand promotion and product premium are not as outstanding as foreign brands, the domestic cosmetics market has been occupied by foreign brands for a long time. But at present, more and more domestic brands are rising, and they have opened up a new product and marketing style, breaking consumers' cognition of the original domestic image.
Different from the old idea of the original brand, the new brand is better at opening the market with marketing, telling the brand story with products and emotions, and occupying the minds of consumers with content marketing. At the same time, their differentiated positioning is also more in line with such a diversified consumer market and the individual needs of consumers. It is worth noting that the simultaneous deepening of multiple brands has formed a product cluster effect, which has broken consumers' cognition of domestic brands time and again, and a new, fashionable, personalized, and advanced domestic brand image is being established in the minds of consumers.
But while the new image is being built, there are also some critical voices. "Heavy marketing", "plagiarism", "expensive", "less fragrance level", "homogenization" and so on are aspects that consumers often complain about.
△ Cut from the Little Red Book
"There is only a foreign structure, but there is no foreign flesh and blood." On social platforms, some consumers have reported that domestic perfumes have made great progress in marketing and packaging design, but they should be improved in product content to meet the real expectations of consumers. You should not always fall into the "plagiarism" storm. It is reported that Fuxiangtang was once forced to close the store due to problems such as customers suspecting that the perfumer's resume was fraudulent.
It can be seen that before the arrival of the real spring, the domestic product niche incense is still facing some problems that need to be solved urgently. Only by truly solving the fundamental problem of products can domestic brands completely change the direction of the tide.