With the rise of consumers' rational concepts and the pursuit of health, the "safety" and "effectiveness" of products have become the key factors for consumers to choose skin care products, which not only puts forward higher requirements for brand scientific research, but also makes scientific communication the focus of dialogue between brands and consumers.
近日，溪木源发表的一篇关于愈创木功效验证的论文《The synergistic effects of Guaiacum officinale and Rhodomyrtustomentosa extracts in the treatment of acne vulgaris onsensitive skin》登上了化妆品皮肤科领域权威期刊杂志《Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology》（以下简称“JCD”）。
JCD is a professional and authoritative journal in the field of cosmetics and dermatology, and international beauty groups such as L'Oreal, Procter & Gamble, and Shiseido have also published papers in the journal. The publication of a paper on efficacy verification in an authoritative journal is a strong proof of Ximuyuan's R&D capabilities.
It is understood that guaiac wood is the core ingredient of the guaiac acne series products developed by Ximuyuan for people with sensitive skin from oilpox. Guaiac wood can not only effectively remove harmful substances from acne, calm raised acne, but also repair damaged red and itchy acne skin. In response to the research of guaiacwood, Ximuyuan has developed a variety of products, including guaiac acne repair serum, essence lotion, mask and acne cream, etc., to solve the problem of oily acne sensitive skin.
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The demand for efficacy is expanded, and "safety" and "effectiveness" become necessary
Sensitive skin refers to a state of hyperreactivity of the skin under physiological or pathological conditions, which is manifested as being stimulated by physical, chemical, mental and other factors, and the skin is prone to subjective symptoms such as burning, stinging, itching and tightness, with or without objective signs such as erythema, scales and telangiectasia.
The formation of sensitive skin is related to congenital genetics, but it is more caused by improper skin care, such as environmental pollution, excessive cleaning or inadequate makeup removal, ultraviolet rays, allergenic foreign substances, improper use of cosmetics and other factors. But one thing is clear, impaired barrier function is the root cause of sensitive skin formation.
Due to some congenital or acquired reasons, the number of people with sensitive skin has been expanding in recent years, and it has become a huge group that cannot be ignored in the skin care industry. According to the National Survey and Identification of Potential Stress Factors for Sensitive Skin in Chinese Women, the proportion of sensitive skin in Asians is higher than that in Europe, and although China is at the global median level, the proportion of sensitive skin is also rising rapidly, with the proportion of sensitive skin in Chinese women reaching 49.6%, an increase of 25.6% compared with 10 years ago.
According to the White Paper on Sensitive Skin of Chinese Women released by iiMedia Consulting, the market size of sensitive skin is expected to account for 42.4% of the total dermatology cosmetics market (including all brands) in 2024, and the overall market volume will exceed 30 billion.
With the expansion of the sensitive skin market, many brands have expanded their product branches for sensitive skin. However, with the hot market of effective skin care, it is not enough to just apply, and consumers with sensitive skin have also begun to advance to the functional needs of whitening, blemish, acne, and anti-aging under the basic needs of "safety".
However, the particularity of sensitive skin also determines that the skin care of sensitive skin is more complex, and there are many restrictions on the use of ingredients. "When you use classic ingredients, you face irritation, safety, tolerance issues; When combined with mildness, the efficacy is greatly reduced. Ximuyuan R&D science officer, Professor Yang Cheng of Jiangnan University, said.
It is a major problem in product development to ensure the safety of sensitive skin and the efficacy of the product.
Take the protagonist of this JCD journal - guaiacwood.
● Screenshot of part of the paper
In order to verify the synergistic effect of guaiac wood and myrtle extract on the treatment of acne on sensitive skin, the Ximuyuan experimental team conducted a 4-week clinical efficacy test. After several rounds of proportioning, Ximuyuan Laboratory finally found that when guaiac wood and myrtle extract were compounded in a ratio of 1:1, the effect of inhibiting inflammatory factors was 2.3 to 7.93 times stronger than that when used alone. At the same time, 30 subjects reported no adverse reactions within 4 weeks, and the improvement rate of acne and erythema was greatly improved.
The research and development of the first product with guaiac wood as the core ingredient has gone through a long and arduous research.
It is understood that in the process of research and development, Ximuyuan refined 123 high-quality papers and found 5 key links related to acid-free acne. From 106 active ingredients suitable for acne-sensitive skin, guaiac wood ingredients that can inhibit the three major skin agitation factors at the same time have been selected, and the "Five Repair and Care Extracts" are specially formulated to synergize and help effective acne treatment.
From the insight into the core needs of acne-sensitive skin to the launch of the first single product of the guaiac series, Ximuyuan spent 17 months polishing, and the series has conducted 70 clinical tests so far, with a total of 1,117 people participating. Gradually explore and steadily advance in the numbers to prove the safety, effectiveness and peace of mind of guaiac wood ingredients. Since then, the Ximuyuan team has been paying attention to the feedback and needs of consumers for a long time, and has continuously innovated and launched refined and upgraded products.
Through complex, in-depth and repeated research and testing, we started research around the point of oilpox sensitive skin, penetrated through it, and finally landed a demand in the market and then to consumers, which not only reflects the strong patience and determination of the brand R&D team, but also reflects their responsibility and respect for sensitive skin consumers.
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Focusing on Asian sensitive skin, we develop advanced products with different skin types
The R&D process of guaiac series products is also projected into the R&D ideas of the entire product matrix of Ximuyuan.
According to the data of users, the discussion of sensitive skin care on social media platforms has climbed to 4.073 million in the past year, with an annual growth rate of 9.98%, and the number of keywords of skin care closely related to sensitive skin care has increased by 99.3%, far exceeding the growth rate of sensitive skin care itself, which reveals the strong pursuit of the market demand for more refined and professional care.
With the continuous refinement of the skin care concept of sensitive skin, Ximuyuan has focused on Asian sensitive skin from the beginning of its establishment, and according to the subdivided needs, drawing inspiration from nature, integrating natural functional ingredients such as camellia, medicinal stratomycetes, guaiacwood, cherry blossom, and conotocyclin into the products, and at the same time attaching importance to the "exquisite formula" between the ingredients, creating an efficacious scheme suitable for different skin types, and meeting the functional care demands of users with different sensitive skin for hydration, oil control, acne, whitening, anti-aging, etc., respectively, the camellia series for dry and sensitive skin has been developed. The laminar fungus series for oil-sensitive skin, guaiac series for oil-sensitive skin, Sakura series for sensitive skin whitening, and conotocyclin series for sensitive skin anti-aging provide a safe, effective and pleasant skin care experience for sensitive skin consumers.
It is worth mentioning that Ximuyuan Laboratory has also innovatively developed a combination of Shumin ingredients "Shumin'an ™ (formerly known as Simpcare 1609™)", which has been combined with "1609 + gray edamame seed + Schisandra chinensis" after more than 8,000 hours of multiple rounds of testing and as many as 384 in vitro and in vivo efficacy and safety tests. It not only takes into account the efficacy of the ingredients, but also fully stimulates the happiness factor in the human body, and the soothing effect is outstanding. According to the experimental data of Ximuyuan, the effect of Shumin Anshu ™ Min is 11.15 times that of the original single ingredient 1609 and 5.67 times that of the classic soothing ingredient purslane. Today, this ingredient combination has become a "technology platform" for the research and development of Ximuyuan products, and is widely used in sensitive skin series products.
In fact, due to the risk of using other types of products for people with sensitive skin, and the probability of "bad face" after easily changing the product is high, people with sensitive skin have a higher loyalty to products or brands that meet their needs, and the repurchase rate of skin care products for sensitive skin is also higher.
The "repurchase rate" is the "strength" of Ximuyuan, and its multi-series products continue to dominate the TOP1 of the "annual repurchase list". For example, camellia emulsion and lamina emulsion are the first and second in Tmall's "annual repurchase list of facial care sets"; Guaiac Wood Essence ranked first on the "Oil Control Essence Annual Repurchase List"; The men's research series has surpassed L'Oreal and other international brands, and has become a frequent visitor to Tmall's "Men's Skincare Set Annual Repurchase List" after only a year on the market.
The repurchase rate is not only a direct manifestation of the user's loyalty to the brand's products, but also reduces the marketing cost of the brand to a certain extent, strengthens the brand image building, and helps the brand to win in the market.
The core bargaining chip of Ximuyuan, which realizes a win-win situation in the market and word of mouth, is "product power".
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The return of consumer value, product power is the strongest "resistance"
In the face of consumers' return to rational consumption, Ximuyuan foresaw early on that brands should return to consumer value, and product power is the key.
Liu Shichao, the founder of Ximuyuan, Jeffrey, once said: "Our company never pursues a certain move, a move to defeat the enemy, but pays more attention to the long-term flow of water. ”
For example, in the national attention, the past 618 promotion activities, Ximuyuan also handed over a good answer sheet, such as on Tmall, Ximuyuan was listed on Tmall 618TOP domestic beauty brand, and it is the youngest domestic brand on the list; Its camellia water emulsion, guaiac wood extract, and men's research series also ranked first in the "annual repurchase list" of each subdivision list during the promotion period.
However, Ximuyuan said that it does not put the ranking of the big promotion in the short and medium term. For them, during the flat sales period during the non-big promotion period, the position of the brand is the most real position of the brand. On the "annual repurchase list", the excellent performance of both big promotions and daily steady and steady performance shows that Ximuyuan products have strong "resistance" in market competition.
Behind the product strength is Ximuyuan's continuous investment in scientific research over the years, and the continuous improvement and upgrading after continuous insight into consumer needs. Since its inception, Ximuyuan has established an independent research and development laboratory, and on this basis, it has done a thorough research and development of sensitive skin.
For example, in May this year, at the 13th Asian Congress of Dermatology (ADC), Ximuyuan not only presented its specialized soothing ingredient combination "Shumin'an ™" and two academic papers officially included in the Asian Skin Society, but also announced the establishment of the Asian Joint Research Center for Functional Skin Care for Sensitive Skin at the conference.
In order to polish the efficacy of the product, Ximuyuan also attaches great importance to human efficacy testing. As of 2023, a total of 717 human clinical efficacy tests have been completed, and a total of 13,396 people have participated in efficacy tests. In 2023 alone, Ximuyuan will complete as many as 331 human efficacy test items, far exceeding the average annual testing average of enterprises of the same scale in the industry.
In the process of research in the field of sensitive skin, Ximuyuan has applied for 122 patents, including 43 invention patents, 20 SCI and scientific papers, with a total impact factor of 56.5, and participated in the formulation of 23 national industry group standards.
Ximuyuan has always taken products as the key and continued to invest in research and development. It is not limited to short-term transformation, but pays more attention to long-term value and flat-term brand building, and it is this vision and determination that makes Ximuyuan stand out in the sensitive skin track.
According to official disclosure, Ximuyuan's GMV in 2023 will exceed 2 billion, and it will continue to be profitable and grow for 2 consecutive years. For a cutting-edge brand that has only been established for 4 years, this speed of development can be said to be quite amazing. However, in the rapid development, Ximuyuan has always remained sober, firm in its direction, laid a solid foundation for scientific research, and continuously developed hard-core products suitable for the needs of sensitive skin subdivisions with a variety of effects.
In the case of intensified marketing and peak traffic, "sober" brands no longer roll in traffic, but return to the brand itself: pay attention to the establishment of long-term connection between brands and consumers, and maintain the spirit of innovation and adhere to the principle of direction through sincerity, trust and value exchange, so as to achieve long-term success. In the future of beauty development, we look forward to more domestic brands that adhere to long-termism, and also look forward to more sober and determined brands.