Image source @ vision china
Since last year, I have consulted Guo Xiruo about the beauty brands that went to Japan for business, but he didn’t care at first. As the founder of Moko, a sea service provider, Guo Xiruo was "Bai Piao" many times a few years ago.
Some brands want to make a show in online celebrity, and one of them is exposed in Japanese stores, which is convenient for telling stories to domestic investors and supply chains.
A well-known domestic beauty brand found Moko and said that it would do its best to make the Japanese market. From how to price, to how to integrate resources, the brand’s CEO and leaders at all levels took turns to study and discuss, while overseas market leaders changed one after another. For more than half a year, the "class" has been attended many times, but the business has not been promoted at all.
However, this round is obviously different.
The founders of many companies began to personally visit the Japanese market, and some brands began to invest real money in the market. Even if they didn’t see results for two or three months, they didn’t plan to retreat, and they were ready to endure it for two or three years.
Nowadays, for all China enterprises, going to sea is no longer a simple option, but has become a torrent. According to the Survey Report on the Present Situation and Intention of Foreign Investment of China Enterprises in 2022, over 70% of the enterprises surveyed maintain or expand the existing scale of foreign investment; Over 80% of enterprises are optimistic about the future development prospects of foreign investment.
Among them, the beauty industry, as a typical representative of high-frequency consumption, has become a very bright field for China brands in overseas markets due to low brand loyalty, high market dispersion and weak monopoly of head brands.
After the early rough distribution mode, driven by the goal of opening up new sources and expanding channels, a new generation of sea-going enterprises must learn to be more calm, look at the outside market with a longer-term perspective, and learn to conquer the world with brands.
After all, in China, the myth of the perfect diary is hard to copy, and China beauty brands have to look for opportunities overseas.
Entering the Japanese market and adjusting the mentality is the first threshold that all China entrepreneurs need to cross.
The Japanese market is conservative and slow-paced, and it doesn’t pay much attention to short-term goals, so it can’t produce an effective result in three months like the China market. It requires the brand to be prepared for 5 years or even more than 10 years, which is unacceptable to many entrepreneurs in China.
To this end, Guo Xiruo often repeatedly confirms a question with the founders of the company-do you really want to be a Japanese market? Have you really made a plan for the Japanese market?
But it is not enough for China enterprises to think it over. The damage that Japanese distributors have suffered must be repaired one by one.
A few years ago, many China merchants tried to enter the Japanese market. They followed the Chinese way of thinking and made profits as soon as possible, and extensively entered offline channels to test the effect. Since it is a quick test, there is no plan to make marketing investment, so it is naturally difficult to see sales. As soon as the three-month inspection cycle arrives, the brand is convenient to ask for withdrawal from the channel.
This has left a shadow for cautious and honest Japanese channel providers. So now, when facing the China brand again, Japanese distributors are becoming more and more cautious, not only asking the brand to provide specific marketing plans, but even giving the overall plan for the Japanese market.
In some channels, there are still some stocks left over by China brands. If Guo Xi has to visit the distributors one by one, he will apologize to the distributors while cleaning up the stocks. "Sorry, the brand didn’t think it over last time. I hope to do it again this time."
But the logic now is different from a few years ago. Enterprises care more about brand image and value, which puts higher demands on Guo Xiruo.
Hua Xizi asked to set up a counter directly in the department store instead of entering the cheap beauty collection store. This choice is a comprehensive consideration of brand image and price. Take Huaxizi carved lipstick as an example. The price of this product in Japan is 5,600 yen (about 292 yuan), which is almost the same as that of Dior.
But this is almost an impossible challenge for a brand that has just entered the Japanese market.
As a traditional market where offline business accounts for more than 80%, Japan’s offline channels have extremely strict requirements for brands. This is an insurmountable barrier for new consumer brands that are good at online channels. As short as 2-3 months, as long as half a year to one year, the offline channels in Japan will review the qualifications, products, ingredients, marketing strategies and other aspects of the brand, and the process is sound but cumbersome, and all operations must conform to the operating procedures of the channel.
As a higher-end sales channel, department stores have a more complicated and long process.
Since entering the Japanese market on February 15, 2021, Hua Xizi has carried out talent cooperation and media communication. During the one-year publicity period, Hua Xizi has accumulated a certain popularity and fans in Japan.
If Guo Xi had the final say, it would have taken more than a year to communicate only with @cosme (a famous offline beauty shop in Tokyo). The cooperation and communication process between Moko and another top department store channel will last for one and a half years.
In addition to the difficulty of offline channels, Japanese kols also have their own personalities.
Odagiri Hong, a Japanese star makeup artist, has never cooperated with China brand before. In order to convince him, Chenguang and the team communicated with him for half a year. Once a long-term cooperation is established, the other party will provide suggestions on products and promotion resources, and even take the initiative to promote it on TV media.
This is a conservative market full of opportunities. Local established enterprises always stick to their traditional ways of playing, which provides a new opportunity for fresh China brands who are good at playing social media to seize the market. But new things in the conservative Japanese market also hide unknown risks.
Take Tik Tok as an example. As a popular business form in the world, the development of Tik Tok in Japan is not smooth. In this conservative market, emerging business forms will be suppressed by consortia to avoid its impact on traditional business models.
Guo Ruoruo told Titanium Media APP that Japan is not only a springboard to help brands build global influence, but also a "fat meat" that can reap tangible benefits. However, China and Japan have different understandings of human feelings and marketing. If we always copy past experience to Japan, we will run into a wall. "Both China and the United States have a little careless style of doing things, and the Japanese are just the opposite of us, so we need to respect their national character."
"Americans are really careless, but China is careful."
Zheng Boya, who once worked in a beauty tool brand, has different understandings of the personalities of China and the United States. She told Titanium Media APP that it is impossible to sell foreign prices in China. Foreign prices are several times higher than domestic prices. If Chinese consumers compare platforms at home and abroad, they will come to brand theory once they find the price difference.
This is a China manufacturer that has been operating overseas for more than 10 years. With its supply chain and price advantages, it has won the first place in the regional sales of nail products in this niche North American market only by online operation.
This is the operation strategy of a typical foreign trade enterprise. According to the observation of Zhang Yue, Google’s international growth consultant, these enterprises focus on platform operation, and supply chain is their main advantage, which is also the first batch of enterprises to see business opportunities. In contrast, many vertical brands often respond half a beat slower.
Just like this, keeping your mouth shut and trying to be unknown are the strategies that many early brands have always followed.
Some institutions tried to spend a lot of money to invite early successful overseas enterprises to go out to teach, but all of them were rejected.
"We don’t talk too much in this business. On the one hand, we are easy to be copied by Bai Piao. On the other hand, there is also the risk of being copied by competitors or encountering unfair competition. Most businesses that really make money will not share their methods of making money."
Don’t talk about giving lectures. Some entrepreneurs in European and American markets even refuse to disclose their company and brand names. I heard that a friend made a nail polish brand on Amazon, and the sales volume was very impressive, but Zheng Boya couldn’t even find out the company name, and finally found the relevant information on a remote small website. "There are many such companies, but everyone doesn’t know, and they don’t want everyone to know."
However, with the intensification of the wave of going out to sea, the mode of making a fortune with a dull voice is no longer applicable. In the case of tigers in front and pursuers behind, how to impress well-informed European and American consumers with new models has become a problem that old brands must face.
Online investment is an opportunity for new brands to tear open mature markets. According to Zheng Boya’s practical experience, among all advertising platforms, the conversion effect of Google advertising is the best. For the launch of KOL, more specific and detailed calculations are needed.
According to Zheng Boya’s launching strategy, after launching, the profit of each KOL is calculated to evaluate whether the blogger can re-launch. With this prudent operation strategy, Zheng Boya spent no more than $20,000 on a single KOL (2 million fans) in more than a year. Sometimes, when I come across some products of this brand that online celebrity likes, even if they don’t need money, the other party even volunteered to promote them.
In addition to traffic delivery, the greater challenge for China’s overseas brands lies in how to stand independently. This is a self-owned platform that needs operation, analysis and product display. Facing the unfamiliar form of independent station, the first reaction of many enterprises going to sea is to ask Zhang Yue for a comprehensive plan, how much money to spend and how much traffic to do. It seems to be rich, but in fact it lacks basic technical ability and operational ideas. "You can’t use the domestic thinking to do overseas. This is completely different."
Among the overseas brands contacted by Zhang Yue, it is basically impossible to copy and paste the China model overseas and directly occupy the overseas sales list.
Although the beauty market in Europe and America is extremely mature, it is also very scattered. Even large enterprises have a very small market share. For beauty products that require constant renewal and impulsive consumption, new brands still have many opportunities.
Even if the family business is as big as L ‘Oré al Group, it only accounts for 14% of the global beauty market. At the same time, as an impulsive consumer product, beauty cosmetics is a category that is constantly driven by liking the new and hating the old. Consumers always have a strong demand for new brands, new products and new concepts.
But even so, oriental characteristics are still a small category to be educated. Although many well-known beauty bloggers in Europe and America praised China’s beauty products by name, and successfully attracted the interest of many western users, they still need a lot of homework to subvert the existing consumption habits.
When many beauty bloggers in Europe and America try out China beauty products, they often say that this product is good in everything, but its coloring is not up to my expectation. People in China like products that are whiter and clearer, but have weak coloring power, but enhance their complexion, while Europeans and Americans prefer exaggerated colors, exaggerated cosmetic and eye shadow. The all-plain Kardashian makeup is the favorite of foreign girls.
In addition to the need to adjust product ideas, there are also many misunderstandings in operational ideas.
Many cross-border e-commerce bosses like to find people with big factory backgrounds, but they often come from domestic e-commerce business. Under its leadership, official website, the company’s overseas brand, presents a strong "Taobao style", displaying discount information every day, much like the Facebook explosion station in the past. Tik Tok’s account is restricted, but he still insists on advertising with a restricted account.
"Maybe bosses think that the domestic e-commerce system is relatively mature, but the thinking of being a platform and being an independent station is too bad. Even if you used to be a Tmall, it will take a long time to adapt to Amazon before you can change your thinking. " Zheng Boya said.
When many brands find Zhang Yue, they will name the European and American markets for the first time. However, after the actual operation for a period of time, it is easy to be discouraged because it does not meet expectations, and turn to other markets, waiting for other markets to mature before attacking North America. After all, this market is too big, and brands are often reluctant to give up.
But in fact, in the case handled by Zhang Yue, as long as you can persist for one year, you will definitely see the effect. She told Titanium Media APP that the European and American markets are scattered, and even L ‘Oreal can hardly monopolize them. Moreover, as a market with very high online penetration rate, complete logistics and shipping infrastructure, and mature and sound laws and regulations, its comprehensive cost and threshold are actually relatively low.
"Consumers like the new and hate the old. They always want to see new brands and introduce some new concepts. This is the charm of consumer goods."
Ringing the doorbell at home is Milky’s killer weapon against unreliable bloggers.
The KOL market in Southeast Asia is still immature, and the professionalism of bloggers is relatively low. Some bloggers don’t want to shoot after receiving the order, they don’t return the samples, they don’t send messages back, and some even choose to disappear. At this time, as the head of Southeast Asia operations of Titanium Technology, a cross-border enterprise service provider, Milky had to personally knock on the bloggers’ doors to get the samples back.
It will take a long time to wait for these "freehand brushwork" bloggers to mature gradually. Milky has to step up efforts to promote the rapid growth of live broadcast business and cultivate more qualified local anchors.
In the live broadcast market in Southeast Asia, beauty products occupy the top spot. According to the "White Paper on TikTok Ecological Development in 2022" released by FastData, 85% of the main categories in the TOP20 live broadcast in Southeast Asia in 2022 are beauty products.
Even so, the e-commerce market in Southeast Asia still has enough room for growth. According to the data of Bain Consulting, it is estimated that the penetration rate of e-commerce in Southeast Asia will reach 6.5% in 2025.
In this context, beauty has also become one of the most important sectors in the Southeast Asia business map of Titanium Technology. As the region closest to China in culture and habits, the live broadcast market in Southeast Asia is far less mature than that in China, but the market penetration rate and consumer acceptance are very high.
To this end, since 2022, Titanium Technology has deployed local live broadcast teams in Malaysia and Indonesia.
As low as 3000 yuan, as high as 8000 yuan, stable salary, sitting in an office, working hours are relatively fixed, and the anchor is a position popular with locals in Southeast Asia.
But in China’s view, the local anchors’ play is still too simple. Milky needs to teach them some better ways to play.
The most commonly used operation mode of domestic live broadcast e-commerce is in the setting of goods-divided into drainage funds and profit funds, so that the drainage funds can be used to drive income with profit funds.
Specific to the live broadcast rooms in Southeast Asia, various forms of promotion are more commonly used. Southeast Asia is a place with frequent promotions, and paydays on March 3, April 4, May 5, June 6 and the 25th of each month are all nodes for promotion. Especially at the end of the month and the beginning of the month, the day when people just get paid is the best node for them to concentrate on shopping. After all, by the middle of the month, everyone had spent all their money.
The time of live broadcast should also match local habits. There are a large number of Muslims in Southeast Asia, and they need to pray every day, but the daily prayer time is different. Therefore, not only the live broadcast time should be adjusted accordingly, but also the company should prepare a prayer room for colleagues who need to pray.
The arrival of China people has changed the operation logic of the e-commerce market in Southeast Asia, and the attitude of local people towards life has also reshaped the working rhythm of China Company to some extent.
Milky asked the Chinese HR in the company if they were willing to work overtime if they paid overtime to local young people. The answer is no. Local people don’t care much about overtime pay. They prefer to finish the specified work within the specified time, so don’t look for them after work. Therefore, managers in China in Southeast Asia have gradually learned to make agreements with local employees and define working hours and work contents.
During his stay in Malaysia, Milky was infected by the local people and became a lot of Buddhists. "It’s not that the locals are lazy, it’s that China people are too involved, and people’s life is normal."
Even so, when catching up with the big promotion, it is inevitable to do three shifts of 24-hour live broadcast. Most of the beauty anchors are women, and in Southeast Asia, Muslim married women will choose to bring their husbands to work if they need to work at night. To this end, we should not only provide them with relatively high taxi fares, but also prepare a rest area for husbands who come to accompany them.
Although Buddhism is laid back, it is still a market with great potential. Online sales in Southeast Asia account for only 20%, and both penetration rate, market size and content model need to be explored. Although the live broadcast market is booming, Li Jiaqi and Viya, which belong to them, have not yet been born.
This is also a market to be matured. Tik Tok is the most comprehensive live broadcast platform in terms of live broadcast function, transaction process, cash on delivery and other supporting capabilities. However, influenced by Tik Tok’s low-price strategy, the Tik Tok platform in Southeast Asia is still in the stage of price struggle.
In addition, limited by the local manufacturing and supply chain capabilities, the shortage of goods and heavy dependence on overseas supply are also one of the reasons that affect the rapid development of the local e-commerce market.
As the most popular market for China brands, the immature development is only a silhouette of the complex and multifaceted Southeast Asian market. How to deal with the diversified aesthetics and preferences of 11 countries in Southeast Asia is the key to win the market.
Due to the strong local beauty market, Thailand is the most competitive area in the whole Southeast Asia. Indonesia and Malaysia have similar cultures, so they can often share a pallet; Vietnam and the Philippines prefer European and American aesthetics.
The complex demand requires the brand to make more detailed product and personnel preparation.
Milky told Titanium Media App that some successful brands will set up a business leader in each country, focusing on all online and offline channels in a single market. But at the same time, the market is also full of some brands with extremely extensive gameplay. They are not even willing to do localized design for the market, and they want to sell China products to Southeast Asia with an English label. "That kind of management is too general, and I don’t think anyone can do it well."
This year, the sea market continues to be hot. From the supply chain to the white brand, more and more beauty brands flood into Southeast Asia, trying to dig gold here.
The brands contacted by Milky have basically set the goal of doubling GMV this year. Although not every brand can succeed, it is a huge market with an average age of 25 and a total population of 200 million. Whether it is subdivided skin care field or high-end beauty products, it is a tempting opportunity for China brands.
(This article is the first titanium media APP, written by | Xie Xuan, note: Zhang Yue’s personal views have nothing to do with the enterprise)
