Written by: Fan Xiao, Beijing Daily
Posted on: September 29, 2018 | 
| 中文
A skincare store
“Wanzi Qianhong Skin Moisturizer”, “Xiefuchun Duck Egg Powder”, “Pechoin Vaseline Skin Cream”
Sweet aroma of the pink skin moisturizer spills out from the delicate, small, blue and white porcelain box. Milky skin cream that feels so delicate and smooth is put in a small plain-looking iron box. As first-tier international beauty brands are taking up majority of the beauty departments of shopping malls, “Grandmother” domestic beauty care brands have appealingly returned to the sight of the public throughout the vicissitudes of times. Featured by safety, reminiscence, and high cost performance, skin care products such as Wanzi Qianhong Skin Moisturizer, Xiefuchun Duck Egg Powder, Pechoin Vaseline Skin Cream, Gongdeng Apricot Lotion rapidly win a large population of fans as they stand out distinguishingly among market skin care products.
Vanishing Cream Stores Flock together in Commercial Streets
Lines of vintage iron boxes of Vanishing Cream displayed among Old fashioned bronze gramophones, posters about women dressed up in Cheongsam leave people the false illusion that they have travelled back to the “Ten Miles of Luxury” of old Shanghai into its gorgeous glamour and grandeur. Users can strongly feel the smell of slender social celebrities with their chic and special temperament. Xiaomeng Han, an office lady was lured and became a great fan the minute she caught sight of it because of its nostalgic appearance in a “Modern Celebrity” store, one of many of such stores in the Old Drum and Bell Tower street.
In recent years, commercial areas of China have become flocked with all sorts of time-honored domestic brands represented by “Modern Celebrity”. By the end of early this year, “Modern Celebrity”, founded in 1930s, has opened 70 more stores in 27 cities. You can find Chinese Vanishing Cream Stores close to one another in merely dozens of meters in the busiest commercial streets like Beijing Qianmen Street, Nanjing Fuzi Miao Street, Tianjin Antique Street, Hangzhou Hefang Street and Shanghai Nanjing Street. In commercial streets full of modernity and fashion, these Chinese domestic brand names are breezing like fresh air.
“Once I saw an oriental classical beauty from a movie, and it is just so fantastic to find them on this little pink iron box!” Susan, from UK, travelled with her family to Beijing, found this little duck egg shaped box so attractive that she bought 3 immediately without haste. “It was so unbelievable when I heard that this was only for noble princesses in royal palaces of ancient China. I want to give it to my friends back home as souvenirs!” Susan said.
A New Sales Legend of Nostalgia and Innovative Marketing
Chinese brand products such as Friendship Vanishing Cream(6 yuan, RMB), Pechoin Facial Cream( 5.8 yuan, RMB) and Gongdeng Apricot Lotion (3 yuan,RMB), are lavishly praised by netizens as conscientious goods that are both inexpensive and high-quality, compared to those international brand names that easily cost hundreds of yuan RMB, or even unknown handmade products. While in the opinion of the marketing professionals, the root reason behind this lies in the secret weapon of opening a new channel, developing a new category and launching new marketing.
Among these, 80 year-old brand Pechoin has successfully realized its transformation to a youngster brand by shooting marketing promotion advertisements characterized by fancy originality, elegant style, wild imagination from the one-take ads “1931”, to 7- times-plot-reversal-in-3 minutes ads “San Sheng Hua”(flower for three generations) and “Si Mei Bu Kai Xin”(four beauties are not happy), a classical style demonic ads drama.
Multi-round innovative marketing strategies brought about sales legends. In 2016, sales volume of a single product of Pechoin mounted to 13.8 billion yuan RMB, compared to 10.8 billion RMB in 2015, up by 27.8%. In that very year during the “Double 11” shopping festival, Pechoin T-Mall Flagship Store continued to top on the best sales list of Beauty Care Products.
“New Channel + New Category” Generating New Momentum
Despite new marketing and sales of traditional products, other new channels and products have also returned, targeting youngster consumers with their time honored products.
“It used to be royal tributes in Qing Dynasty made with natural ingredients, dyed and smoked by fresh flowers, mixed with iced musk handcraftsmanship, featured by light, red, white fragrant”. Such words were found from an independent media public platform account in a recommendation article entitled “10 domestic best quality products that you cannot miss”, in which brands such as Xiefuchun, Pientze Huang, Mi Qi and the likes of them have won over 10,000 clicks on internet.
In a live internet broadcast about beauty and care, the cam girl shared her own experience of using all these brands with her fans and frankly told them, “Friendship Vanishing Cream applied in the dry season of North China, feels so delicate, and superb for moisturizing.”
Seen from traditional sales channels, exported products have their own advantage. However, as social media is gaining more and more attention, these makeup bloggers can accurately send their information to potential consumer groups, and the advantages of low-priced and good quality domestic beauty products are maximized, and in the process substantial sales are ultimately transformed through social transmission from word to word.
At the same time, keeping in abreast with new trends is another secret of maintaining dynamism of those time-honored brands.
Old brands are now targeting new categories of new line products, such as Cushion BB Cream, makeup removal lotion, lash mascara, and all-function mask. Dongfang Zhang, chairman of the board of Shanghai Jahwa Corporation, which is celebrating its 120th anniversary, frankly said that youngster consumers including generations of 1990s, and those who were born after 2000 are rising. It becomes even more crucial to know how to capture their heart, instead of knowing what their mother’s favorite fragrance is.
A Chinese brand, once “vanishing”, is now on the way to start an even greater exploration and expansion on the context of new retail trends by accumulating reputation through word of mouths and telling impressive stories of the goods.
Translated by Yang Jing
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