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Beijing, 28 Sep (Xinhuanet) -- If you want to compare West Lake to Xizi, light makeup is always appropriate.
Hangzhou has contained the gene of "beauty" since ancient times. The "Five Hangs" (Hangzhou Fan, Hangzhou Scissors, Hangzhou Fan, Hangzhou Yan and Hangzhou Line) on the shores of Xizi Lake are famous throughout the country, and Hang Fan (powder rouge) ranks first. From the production base of international beauty competition after the reform and opening up to the cradle of a number of local beauty brands, Hangzhou has become the "third city" of Chinese beauty after Guangzhou and Shanghai.
Mature beauty manufacturing supply chain combined with the technological wisdom of the "digital city" has created a "beauty economy", attracting more and more beauty brands to take root in the city.
The second quarter of "Times Summary" talks to Hou Juncheng, president of Hangzhou Cosmetics Industry Association and chairman of Proya Cosmetics Co., Ltd., to explore the methodology of domestic beauty from "explosive" to "long red".
Industrial cluster helps Hangzhou beauty "beautiful butterfly change"
Relevant data show that the number of beauty companies in Zhejiang Province ranks among the top three in the country, of which Hangzhou accounts for more than 50% of the province's total. A number of "Hangzhou style beauty" such as Proya, Ou Shiman, and Mao Geping have gradually moved to the public's field of vision and become the vane for the development of domestic beauty brands. "Hangzhou Chao Beauty", which is both internal and external and has Chinese cultural characteristics, continues to enrich the domestic beauty category, effectively promoting the development of Hangzhou cosmetics cluster.
In the 90s of last century, Hou Juncheng did cosmetics wholesale business in Yiwu, and in just a few years he became the forefront of Yiwu cosmetics wholesale field, but he also saw that engaging in wholesale can never control his own destiny. Hou Juncheng recalled that in 1999, when he decided to make his own cosmetics brand, he "transferred" from Yiwu to Hangzhou, and after accumulating certain resources and strength, he founded Proya in 2003.
Looking at the development pattern of the domestic beauty industry, Guangzhou has a strong industrial foundation and Shanghai has a large number of international brands, while Hangzhou's advantage lies in the "beauty + e-commerce" model. Looking back, Proya, which is in the beauty track, seized the opportunity of Hangzhou's Internet era and launched online channels early, injecting new vitality into the development of the brand.
"Hangzhou has many high-quality Internet resources and talents, which is extremely beneficial to FMCG companies." Hou Juncheng said that relying on such natural advantages, Proya integrated e-commerce resources such as live broadcast and talent and grew rapidly.
Data show that in the first half of this year, Proya's online channels accounted for 92.03% of the total revenue of its main business, a new high in recent years. During the 618 event in 2023, the transaction amount of Proya's Tmall flagship store ranked fourth on Tmall Beauty, and first in domestic products, second only to foreign brands such as L'Oreal, Lancôme, and Estée Lauder.
Huzhou, Zhejiang, less than 100 kilometers from Hangzhou, has a nationally famous beauty town - Daixi Town. Proya is the first cosmetics company in Daixi Town. In July 2006, Hou Juncheng took his dream of beauty entrepreneurship to build a cosmetics industrial base in Daixi Town Industrial Park, and officially put into production in April 2009.
In 2015, Hou Juncheng became the "shop Xiao No." of China's beauty town, working with the government to promote China's beauty "competition" on the world stage. Hou Chengjun introduced that the beauty town is committed to becoming a world-class gathering place for China's cosmetics industry, so as to achieve the comprehensive improvement of the cosmetics industry in China and form a global competitive advantage. Up to now, the beauty town has settled in a total of 274 enterprises, and has signed strategic cooperation agreements with government agencies and industry associations in 29 countries, such as the French Cosmetics Valley and the Bulgarian National Essential Oil Production and Trade Association.
"It is hoped that through the platform of beauty town, we will promote the transformation and upgrading of local industries and high-quality economic and social development, and play an active role in promoting common prosperity." At the same time, let the global industry practitioners better understand Chinese cosmetics enterprises and respect the Chinese cosmetics market and consumers more. Hou Juncheng said.
Self-improvement of domestic products is not just a simple slogan
In November 2017, Proya was successfully listed on the A-share market, and now its market value has exceeded 40 billion yuan, becoming the first stock in China's beauty industry. Looking back on Proya's initial obscurity to today's industry leader, Hou Juncheng believes that the most correct thing to do is to insist that "technology is the primary productive force". In recent years, Proya has stepped on the trend of effective skin care and launched a series of new products, relying on continuous investment in research and development.
"We take a multi-pronged approach from forward-looking R&D, R&D investment, and global cooperation to create a world-class cosmetics innovation R&D system." Hou Juncheng introduced that at the hardware level, Proya built its own domestic R&D center as early as 2008, and also established the International Academy of Science in 2021 to explore in the fields of basic research, applied research and efficacy clinical research, such as in order to enhance the independent development ability of core functional raw materials, the company has gradually built laboratories such as plant extraction and organic synthesis. At the software level, Proya has built a professional R&D team through the construction of postdoctoral workstations and national talent introduction plans.
In the first half of 2023, Proya's R&D expenses were 91.52 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 49.87%. From the perspective of the number of patents, as of the end of 2021, Proya has obtained a total of 201 national authorized patents, ranking in the forefront of domestic beauty companies.
In recent years, the national chao economy has entered a period of vigorous development, diversification, the rise of personalized consumption, the growing Chinese cultural self-confidence has helped the development of multi-category domestic brands, a number of domestic brands have gained a new life, and compete with foreign big brands in the field of consumer goods. At this stage, domestic consumers have also become more rational, and their attention to domestic brands has begun to grow.
However, after all, the "new domestic product" brand started late, and it is in a state of catching up in various research such as raw materials and formulas. Price wars are often the fate that domestic brands cannot get rid of, and the key to breaking this vicious circle lies in product innovation. Industry insiders pointed out that if domestic brands want to achieve a breakthrough, they cannot only rely on marketing and traffic, and if they want to achieve long-term development, they must still invest in product innovation and brand building.
"The competition in cosmetics research and development in the future is the competition of science and technology and raw materials. We will continue to develop functional cosmetics that adapt to all types of skin and compete in product efficacy. Hou Juncheng said that Proya actively uses global resources to jointly develop high-tech raw materials with biotechnology companies from Spain, France and Italy, and innovate technologies and formulas that are more in line with the skin characteristics of Asians, so that consumers can get a more comfortable experience.
Carry forward the "Four Thousand Spirit" and do one thing well in a lifetime
"Traveled through thousands of mountains and rivers, spoken a thousand words, tried in every possible way, endured thousands of hardships". The "Four Thousand Spirit" of Zhejiang businessmen has written the legend of Zhejiang's private economic development, and it is also deeply reflected in Hou Juncheng. From the young man who came out of the mountains of Yueqing, Zhejiang Province to the small wholesaler in Yiwu, and then to the founder of Proya, Hou Juncheng negotiated "small business" into "big deal", "small commodities" into "big market", and "small workshop" into "big enterprise", and continued to cultivate in the cosmetics industry to achieve one thing to the extreme.
Hou Juncheng believes that entrepreneurs are in a magnificent and great era, and only by recognizing the trend of the tide of the times can they have a clear mind and make great achievements.
"As the first batch of private entrepreneurs who have benefited from the reform and opening up, we must always be grateful. It was this great era that made Proya what it is today. Hou Juncheng said, "Gratitude is the enterprise spirit of Proya, but also my personal belief. To achieve common prosperity, we must achieve material and spiritual prosperity, and in a limited life, we must do more things to help others and be happy with ourselves, realize self-worth, and create social value. ”
In Hou Juncheng's heart, there has always been a dream buried deep in his heart: to make the national brand stronger, bigger, refined and deep, to the hearts of consumers, so that the Chinese beauty industry will stand in the center of the world stage and share the beauty.
The second season of Times Digest, launched by Xinhuanet and Guizhou Digest Wine, shows the resilience and vitality of China's strong economic development with the advantages of all-media, diversified and new voice communication. The program visits new technologies, new industries, new applications, and new scenes, gets closer to representative figures in the industry, and sees more industrial breakthroughs. Through the IP of "Times Summary", Guizhou Abstract Wine has in-depth dialogues with many highly influential enterprises, summarizing the development wave of the times, conveying the beautiful culture of Jinsha Wine Industry, promoting industrial transformation and upgrading, and injecting more industrial impetus into the progress of the times.