Recently, a number of media reported that South Korean makeup brand Itie's House has closed all offline stores in the domestic market. It is understood that Itti House is a brand of South Korea's Amorepacific Group, which entered the domestic market in 2013, and was originally known as the name "Ari Hut", because the name has been registered, it was later renamed Itie House to develop in China.
The reporter visited and found that the last Itti House store in Chongqing was closed last year, but the brand's products can still be found in the beauty collection store kkv and the colorist colorist. As a well-known Korean makeup brand, Iti's House was once all the rage, but what are the reasons behind the closure of the store now? For domestic brands, does the fading of a generation of Korean makeup brands mean the advent of more opportunities?
Itti House closes its offline stores
According to public reports, Itti's House has now closed offline direct stores in Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shanghai and other places. At its peak, the brand opened 85 brand stores in 25 cities, including Shanghai and Chengdu.
"The eyebrow pencil and eyebrow dye cream of The House of Itti are very easy to use, but I didn't expect to close the store." After 95, Miss Li told reporters that Itti's House is one of the several brands she often bought when she was a student, the packaging is good-looking, and the price is not expensive. Later, when I worked, my income gradually increased, and I had more choices, so I rarely patronized the brand.
The reporter searched from the public comments and found that the House of Itie in Chongqing has been in a state of total closure. In April last year, the Iti House in Guanyin Bridge Darong City also had netizens post comments, and in August, netizens asked whether the store had moved out.
The original location of Itti House has been rebranded
With all offline stores closed, what channels can consumers buy the brand's products from? The reporter learned that at present, online channels such as the Tmall flagship store, the WeChat official mall, and the official flagship store of Xiaohongshu are still operating normally. The best-selling eyebrow pencil in its Tmall flagship store, showing 14,000 payments, shows that there are still fans paying for the brand.
Offline, in August last year, Itti House announced a strategic cooperation with the colorist colorist, who belongs to the kk group. As a result, consumers can still find the brand's products in beauty collection stores kkv and the colorist paletteers. In the kkv store located in Guanyin Bridge, the reporter found that there was an eye shadow of Itie's House for sale in the makeup area, but the brand identity was not obvious.
The competitiveness of affordable Korean cosmetics products is weak
According to the 2020 financial report released by Amorepacific Group, the parent company of Iti's House, Iti's House currently has assets of 49.9 billion won (about 287 million yuan) and liabilities of 56.6 billion won (about 325 million yuan), with a net asset value of minus 6.6 billion won (about 37.93 million yuan). In the case of poor performance, it is expected to cut costs by closing stores.
In fact, not only is it Itti's House, but Also Korean brands such as Innisfree, Feishi Shop, and Skin Food have also closed stores or withdrawn from offline. Innisfree, which also belongs to Amorepacific Group, closed 40 loss-making stores in 2019 and announced the closure of at least 90 loss-making stores during the year in April 2020. The Fischer Shop single brand store announced its withdrawal from the Chinese market in August 2018.
From the perspective of Korean brands that have faded out of the market, they are mainly concentrated in the field of affordable makeup and skin care. Brands such as Snowflake Show and Hou, which are mainly engaged in the high-end market, have been less affected.
During the interview, the reporter noticed that many consumers said that the quality of affordable Korean beauty products was average, and long-term use was not as good as Japanese and European and American brands, so the repurchase rate was low. After the emergence of domestic brands at the same price point, more consumers tend to buy better quality domestic brands.
Industry analysts said that compared with Japanese brands and European and American brands, Korean brands have more hard injuries in products. Especially affordable brands, product competitiveness is weak, but also frequently burst out of quality problems, in the consumer more and more rational, and the market competition tends to be fierce in the background, there is not much living space. The Korean high-end brand has gained a certain recognition by virtue of its product effect, but the brand audience is limited and cannot change the general trend of the decline in the influence of Korean makeup.
Domestic brands are achieving "counterattack"
In the field of affordable makeup that Wasi House once proud of, many domestic brands such as Perfect Diary, Hanaiko, and Orange have emerged. The affordable skin care field that Innisfree focuses on includes emerging domestic brands such as hfp, Yuze and Ximuyuan. These brands have basically realized the replacement of Korean affordable brands in terms of price and function.
In particular, Perfect Diary has realized the layout of online and offline channels, not only the frequent customers of the head anchor's live broadcast room, but also the brand's stores can often be seen in the business circles of first- and second-tier cities. Brands such as Huaxizi, Yuze, and HFP pay special attention to online marketing, and are the main force in the promotion of kol grass cultivation in various channels, and have opened up a world by marketing.
Wang Qiaoling, secretary general of the Chongqing Retailers Association, told reporters: "The reason why Korean makeup represented by Itie's House was able to sweep the country in the early stage is because of the popularity of Korean dramas in China, which has brought an aura to Korean makeup. In recent years, the rapid development of China's beauty market, the way the younger generation receives information has undergone great changes, the aura of Korean dramas is also weakening, coupled with the quality of Korean brands themselves is not too hard, resulting in the overall decline of Korean brands. ”
She pointed out that since entering 2020, brands with offline business district stores as the main channel have been impacted, and online sales are becoming a major mainstream. Previously, many domestic brands have taken online as an important channel to seize a certain opportunity, but after the tide of traffic, it is still necessary to return to the product itself.
"On the whole, domestic brands have seized the opportunity of the current new generation of rise, providing them with a large number of affordable and rich products, while online and offline can be convenient to buy, so in recent years have achieved rapid development." However, in terms of brand recognition and product technology content, domestic brands still have shortcomings. Surpassing Korean brands in the field of affordable beauty is only the first step, and it is necessary to continue to focus on products and achieve breakthroughs in the high-end market. Wang Qiaoling said.
Upstream News Chongqing Business Daily reporter Tang Xiaowei