In the last two issues, we disassembled the two representative brands typical of efficacy skin care: tiger brand Xiulike and wolf brand HFP, and dissected their respective "family history". Today, we're going to take apart the last iconic brand in the therapeutic skincare: the ape brand.
Although the ape brand is lower than the tiger brand and the wolf brand in terms of overall resources and brand power, it is better in the supply chain and R&D/product strength. Such brands often do not have strong brand recognition, but have their own unique ingredient research and development capabilities, or exclusive advantages in the supply chain. Moreover, it is creative, and it adopts pioneering strategies to seek innovation and difference. If you want to dismantle the style of play of ape-type brands, the most worthy of analysis is the Internet celebrity brand known as the ingredient "raw material barrel" - The Ordinary.
In recent years, in the skincare industry, the term "raw material barrel" has become quite hot. The so-called "raw material barrel" refers to a batch of products that break through the original skin care product ideas, these products do not pursue exquisite packaging, unique fragrance or elegant skin feeling, but pursue the supply of raw materials, and will not pay attention to the problems that formulators have painstakingly considered.
The Ordinary happens to be a brand that takes the "raw material barrel" concept to the extreme, and can be called the brand leader of "selling raw materials". The Ordinary, part of Deciem, an innovative Canadian beauty company, was influenced by founder Brandon Truaxe's philosophy of "abnormal beauty companies", deciem's unprecedented combination of management, design, product testing and logistics in one space. Its products focus on hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, high-strength vitamin and mineral freckle formula, natural moisturizing factors, etc., including nearly 60 products, which are "full of sincerity" in the supply of raw materials.
Unlike the traditional "the stronger the ingredients, the more expensive" perception, all of The Ordinary's products are in the low price band. Brandon Truaxe, founder of The Ordinary, has said that the price and quality of products are not absolutely related.
In fact, the main expenditure of enterprises is not on product ingredients, but on research and development testing, logistics and transportation, and intermediate profits earned by retailers. In order to achieve lower prices, The Ordinary simplified the link, "no middlemen to earn the difference", and greatly reduced the price of consumer arrival. As a result, The Ordinary can be called the "handle" of affordable drugs in skin care products.
This is mainly due to its parent company Deciem from research and development, production, assembly and transportation, marketing to market feedback and other links, are completed independently by themselves, so The Ordinary has great control over product costs, which is why it has a strong advantage in quality and profit control.
As consumers gradually develop the habit of online consumption, the "search" step becomes an important part of consumers' online shopping. Based on this choice, The Ordinary adopts a "ingredient > brand" strategy, with a full suite of products and marketing strategies that are perversely "debranded".
Genderless style bottles, "ingredient + concentration" composed of pharmaceutical product names, The Ordinary has never deliberately led consumers to remember the brand and product name. On the contrary, the purchase of The Ordinary products requires consumers to do their own homework: have a basic understanding of skin type, ingredients and skin problems, go to the official website to select various products classified by "ingredients", and buy them in combination with current needs.
In terms of marketing propaganda, The Ordinary casts some shadow of Lululemon - heavy community, but its community has changed from a yoga circle to a composition party circle. Deciem's independent community, deciem Chat Room, has about 200,000 followers and the discussion is very lively.
The Ordinary uses social media as the main channel, does not invite celebrities, and the proportion of advertising and marketing is much lower than that of other beauty brands. Its founder, Brandon Truaxe, also runs the company's Ins account himself, and his humorous and funny personal style has also brought a lot of charm to the brand's social media. This vertically controllable model gives it direct and efficient user communication capabilities, and can quickly get consumer feedback. In addition, because it has the aforementioned vertical supply chain, brands can also quickly improve and iterate on products.
Consumers who have purchased The Ordinary can basically be called "ingredient koc", and can popularize ingredient knowledge to those around them. They can then start from the ingredient principle and recommend The Ordinary to those around them. In a way, The Ordinary takes UGC to the extreme.
As a start-up brand from scratch, in the case of no advantage in comprehensive resources, with a unique understanding of ingredients, The Ordinary uses "ingredients" to establish a foundation of trust with consumers, and uses "the efficacy of ingredients" to quickly establish a bridge of communication with consumers.
At the same time, through a series of ways to subvert the traditional play of the category, such as product innovation, pricing innovation, image innovation, marketing innovation, etc., we have successfully opened up a market with ingredients as the core selling point, and a series of alternative debut methods of "doing the opposite" have made The Ordinary a representative of the ape brand, which is worthy of in-depth research and learning of the brand.
But at the same time, as consumers have begun to get rid of the "ingredient cult fever", "efficacy skin care" gradually to the center of the skin care market stage, The Ordinary as a "raw material barrel" brand, its lack of formulator experience and effect experiments and other disadvantages will be tested by consumers, the transformation road to "efficacy skin care" is bound to become its next stage of development focus.
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