As soon as the 618 promotion ended, the consumer market set off a new round of topic whirlpool. This time the focus is on the cosmetics industry.
On the evening of June 26, the official official account of Bloomage Biotech issued the "Statement on the Violation of Individual Departing Employees of Bloomage Biotech", although it was not named, it is generally believed in the industry that this is a formal response to the accusations of "workplace bullying" by former employees through social media.
In this statement, Bloomage Biotech said: "No brand of the company has ever been developed based on personal image and personal ability. We have fully grasped all the facts of the infringement of intellectual property rights, the violation of non-competition agreements, and the illegal arbitrage of economic benefits by relevant individuals, and will surely safeguard the rights and interests of investors and the normal order of the market. ”
Looking back at the history of Bloomage Biotech in the past few years, the reason why its performance has "soared" is largely because it has a certain first-mover advantage in the hyaluronic acid raw material market. According to public information, Bloomage Biotech was founded in 2000 and started with hyaluronic acid raw materials.
According to the "2021 Global and China Hyaluronic Acid (HA) Industry Market Research Report" released by the authoritative research institution Frost & Sullivan, Bloomage Biotech accounted for 44% of the global raw material market in 2021, and is the world's largest hyaluronic acid R&D, production and sales enterprise, with a stable leading position in the industry.
On the other hand, Bloomage Biotech has also caught up with the huge wave of opportunities in the new consumption era.
In the late 70s and early 80s of the last century, the Chinese market, which opened its doors for the first time, was occupied by beauty brands from Europe, America, Japan and South Korea, and the share of domestic brands was difficult to erod.
However, when the time came to 2018, with the birth of traffic dividends such as short videos and live broadcast e-commerce, as well as the efficacy trend set off by the domestic skin care market, the marketing, channel and product research and development focus of many brands also underwent revolutionary changes.
Many new consumer brands have sprung up, and with the emergence of aesthetic dividends, the beauty and skin care industry has shown a strong growth momentum, with brands such as Proya, Huaxizi, and Winona standing out.
Driven by this background, Bloomage Biotech's "Runbaiyan" successfully broke the market with the new product category of "secondary throwing", and launched the "Quadi" brand with the help of its channels, traffic and other advantages, quickly seized market opportunities and successfully entered the "1 billion club".
It is not difficult to see that behind this, as the parent company of Quadi, Bloomage Biotech has provided strong support for Quadi's rise. In addition to providing high-quality raw materials, its deep accumulation in the field of biotechnology has also injected advanced technology and innovative ideas into Quadi's product research and development, laying a solid foundation for product development and market promotion.
Therefore, the rise of "Quadi" is by no means easy to achieve by a single team with its own efforts, but the result of the joint action and synergy of multiple factors.
In recent years, with the improvement of the awareness of the new generation of consumers to please themselves and cultural self-confidence, the Chinese beauty market has also ushered in a new situation - domestic beauty products have begun to rise rapidly.
According to the data of the "2023 China Cosmetics Yearbook" released by Blue Eye Information, in 2023, the sales of domestic beauty products will increase by 21.2% year-on-year, and the market share will reach 50.4%, surpassing foreign cosmetics brands for the first time.
Behind the astonishing growth rate, there is a more brutal reshuffle in the beauty industry.
First, there are increasingly rational consumers. According to iiMedia Research's "2024-2025 China Beauty Industry Development Status and Consumption Trend Report", in 2024, Chinese consumers will pay the most attention to product ingredients (58.8%) and product efficacy (41.4%) when buying cosmetics.
This means that a new generation of consumers is choosing beauty products more focused on the actual ingredients and effects of the product, rather than just being influenced by the brand or marketing.
This also prompts beauty brands to increase investment in technological innovation and R&D, and launch more scientific and segmented product lines according to the needs of different consumer groups.
For example, we have developed a special product line for different skin care needs such as sensitive skin, anti-aging, and whitening. The domestic beauty market is moving towards a new stage of specialization, segmentation and high-end growth.
Secondly, in the context of the gradual weakening of online traffic, the communication logic between domestic beauty brands and consumers has also changed.
Compared with the extensive marketing model in the past, emerging content e-commerce continues to divert traditional shelf e-commerce platforms, the cost of consumer brands is gradually rising, the potential energy of super head anchors is weakening, and domestic beauty brands are beginning to seek more diversified and efficient communication strategies.
Compared with the new consumption dividend period of cooking oil, behind the rise of domestic beauty products is actually a deep test of the brand's comprehensive management ability.
On the one hand, beauty brands need to show their depth and breadth in multiple dimensions such as product innovation, brand building, market insight, and supply chain management to cope with the complexity and unpredictability of the market.
On the other hand, brands must also be more agile to capture changes in consumer demand, respond quickly to market trends, and at the same time achieve refined management in internal operations to ensure the high quality and efficiency of products and services.
As the "first stock of hyaluronic acid", Bloomage Biotech released its 2023 annual financial report in April this year. According to the financial report, Bloomage Biotech's revenue in 2023 will be 6.076 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 4.45%, and the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies will be 593 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 38.97%. At the same time, the functional skin care business, as the revenue responsibility of Bloomage Biotech, declined for the first time, achieving revenue of 3.757 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 18.45%.
It is not difficult to find that behind this series of controversies, this leading company is actually going through a painful period.
In order to continue to sit firmly in the leading position, the company that has been established for more than 20 years has announced that it will enter a critical stage of self-transformation in 2023.
After investigation, Inspur New Consumption found that behind the decline in the overall growth rate of the industry, Bloomage Biotech has also seen some subtle changes this year. According to the first quarter report of 2024, this year's Q1 revenue will be 1.36 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.24%; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 243 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.39%.
The data growth of Bloomage Biotech also means that the company has found a new fulcrum. In the face of twists and turns, dwelling on problems will only make more new problems pervasive.
How does Bloomage Biotech show its flexibility to adapt to market changes through self-transformation and strategic adjustment? Behind a series of changes, what kind of new enlightenment will this leading company bring to the development of China's beauty industry and domestic brands?
The development of the consumer market does not happen in isolation. It is like a ship, riding the wind and waves in the ocean of market economy, macroeconomic fluctuations, the evolution of the trend of people's thoughts, the tide of technological innovation, and the adjustment of the policy environment are all weather vanes that affect the course and speed of this ship.
The world is like a chess game. As a comprehensive enterprise spanning the three major fields of raw materials, medical beauty and skin care products, under the wave of changes in the beauty industry, Bloomage Biotech has also launched a series of new layouts and attempts in a timely manner.
So up to now, what are the changes and highlights of Bloomage Biotech, which has taken the initiative to get rid of the path dependence of its past success?
On June 28, at the 2023 annual general meeting of shareholders of Bloomage Biotech, it also replied to the progress of the change. Zhao Yan, Chairman and President of Bloomage Biotech, said: "We don't want to stay in the past model and don't want to rely on the old path. Hopefully, this time I can really face myself, take a holistic look at the interior, and find out what can be optimized and improved to drive the business in a better direction. ”
According to the data, Bloomage Biotech's transformation covers all levels from strategic planning to R&D, to business operations and human resource management. In terms of process reorganization, the company re-optimized the whole process of strategic planning and internal collaboration, focusing on internal cost reduction and efficiency improvement.
According to Inspur New Consumption Observation, in terms of product innovation, the brand strategy of its core strategic brand "Runbaiyan" is clearer than in the past. In the past, "Run Baiyan", which used to be the core selling point of hyaluronic acid, will rebrand itself as "repairing healthy skin with biotechnology" in 2024.
In the first quarter of 2024, with its large-scale white gauze series products (repair thread), the brand mind and the sub-disposable essence category were stabilized.
The data shows that the star products of this series have entered the TOP3 single products of the Tmall channel, and the trend of attracting new customers and repurchasing is good. In addition, the newly launched collagen anti-aging series focuses on hyaluronic acid compound bioactives, opening up a new field of functional skin care for the brand.
As for the specific performance of this large-scale and fierce change, it is really expected from inside and outside the industry. Let's wait patiently and wait for the final results to be revealed.
Through the in-depth transformation of Bloomage Biotech, we can see the self-innovation and adaptation of a company in the face of market and internal challenges. The beauty market is particularly competitive. Especially in the era of information explosion, various voices have come and gone.
In this context, the dispute between Bloomage Biotech and Bloomage may not be a simple confrontation between individuals and enterprises, but also an important observation window in the development of the domestic beauty industry.
It is not yet known how the event will go, and Inspur New Consumption will continue to pay attention. However, what is certain is that after this incident, domestic beauty brands need to analyze and understand the importance of internal management and cultural construction at a deeper level. Get to the root of the problem and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.
Dripping water through stones is not a day's work. In the face of changes in the market consumption cycle, Bloomage Biotech may also experience a period of pain. But over time, its impact and value to the industry will gradually become apparent. This kind of long-term persistence is also a necessary attitude for the development of the current enterprise.
In the future, China's beauty market needs not only product and technology innovation, but also concept and model innovation. The story of Bloomage Biotech is the epitome of this change.
"The scenery should be long-term, and it should be broad-sighted." Embracing new challenges and opportunities with an attitude of innovation and change may also be a new story that the Chinese beauty market needs to explore for a long time to come. At the heart of this new story is continuous exploration and innovation to adapt to changing market needs and consumer trends.