Jin Bao Shen Observation | The olfactory economy is booming – exploring the modern interpretation of the Chinese incense industry chain

Financial Investment News reporter Xue Lei

With the rise of the national tide and health fever, Chinese incense culture has once again become the focus of attention. The olfactory economy is becoming more and more valuable in contemporary society, and Chinese incense has become an indispensable part of it with its unique cultural charm and sensory experience.

Drafting: Qing Zixiu

The biggest highlight of Chinese incense is its strong penetrating power and long-lasting fragrance. Some time ago, the reporter came across a small Chinese incense shop at a street stall. Even in the hustle and bustle of the city, mixed with various smells, the delicate aroma of Chinese incense is impressive.

In the communication with the stall owner, the reporter of the Financial Investment News learned that today's Chinese incense has already entered the homes of ordinary people, and there are many particulars on the efficacy. Some powerful perfumers combine incense sticks with traditional Chinese medicine, so that health preservation and smell are closely linked, and the incense economy is full of new vitality.

This encounter made the author can't help but ask in my heart, since Chinese incense sticks have taken the "fast bus" of health preservation, to what extent has the integration of traditional incense culture inheritance and modern life been carried out? Has the development of the incense stick economy kept up with the pace of the times?

The reporter of the Financial Investment News interviewed a number of people in the Chinese incense industry through visits at various levels, and also went to the Chinese incense base and communicated with many incense lovers. Then it was found that today's Chinese incense economy is no longer limited to the sale of incense products, incense seats, incense plugs, etc. also have high-tech bonuses, and the market also provides incense training and other services, and incense culture is showing a trend of multi-dimensional development. From raw materials to finished products to sales, the integration of this traditional skill and the modern industrial chain has gradually improved, but at the same time, it also faces many problems.

The price of high-end incense sticks is expensive because of the scarcity of raw materials

Interpreting Chinese incense from the perspective of the industry is inseparable from raw materials. Whether it is offline or online incense, raw materials are an important factor in determining the fragrance product, and the quality of the fragrance determines the quality of the fragrance. Although there is no high-end and low-end incense culture, there are incense materials, which determine whether the incense stick is high-end or not, in fact, the content of agarwood in the incense, and this precious spice is endowed with extremely high value because of its scarcity.

"Although high-end incense sticks have a smaller share of the market, they occupy significant attention. The reason why this type of fragrance is defined as high-end is largely due to the scarcity of its raw materials, especially agarwood and sandalwood, two top spices. These spices are not only prized for their natural properties, but also because their acquisition depends on the growth cycle of the tree. This means that high-quality agarwood and sandalwood often take decades or even hundreds of years to form, which directly leads to the non-renewable nature of these spices. A certain incense inheritor in Chengdu said.

The scarcity of high-end incense sticks is further exacerbated by the high quality of the raw material. For example, old sandalwood and old agarwood take a long time to form, and these precious spices, once harvested, cannot be replenished in the short term. Therefore, the production of high-end incense sticks is often limited by the supply of raw materials, and it is difficult to achieve large-scale mass production, which also explains why the so-called high-end incense sticks on the market are limited in quantity and expensive.

"It is worth noting that the pricing of high-end incense sticks is not only based on the cost of raw materials, but also includes added value such as branding, packaging, and marketing. Therefore, even for the same fragrance, different brands may present very different price points. Fa Zheng said.

In contrast, the more cost-effective ordinary incense sticks occupy a larger market share. Although these fragrances use more common spices, or use smaller agarwood and sandalwood, they can meet the needs of a wider range of consumers while maintaining a certain quality.

During the visit, the reporter of the Financial Investment News found that some incense stores advertised themselves as the development of the whole industry chain, and began to carefully select raw materials. However, after the reporter visited its base, it was found that the so-called strict selection of raw materials was only opened up in a small courtyard to plant some medicinal materials, and the medicinal materials were not yet mature and difficult to enter the fragrance, and most of the incense materials were purchased through other channels. Perhaps it is because of this gimmick of "the development of the whole industry chain" that the price of incense products has skyrocketed.

Chinese incense is moving towards customization

The culture of incense comes from history and goes to the future. In the Chinese incense market, the absolute relationship between price and value has become less absolute, and the people and things that have been incense in history are also very different from those in modern times.

In modern society, the application scenarios of incense sticks have gone far beyond the traditional scope. From high-end business meetings to everyday home life, from personal meditation spaces to public leisure spaces, incense sticks are an excellent item to enhance the environment and promote physical and mental health with their unique aroma and cultural connotations.

During the visit, the reporter of the Financial Investment News found that with the increase of personalized demand, the incense stick market has become more segmented and more specialized. From high-end customized incense sticks to functional incense products suitable for different scenarios, such as meditation incense for meditation and refreshing incense for office use, the incense stick market is moving towards meeting the diversified needs of consumers.

"Everyone's olfactory aesthetic is personal, and a fragrance may be loved by someone, but it may not necessarily be recognized by others. Therefore, the customized production of incense sticks aims to meet the personal preferences of consumers for fragrance and achieve a truly personalized experience. Fa Zheng said.

Different from the traditional mass production model, customized incense sticks pay more attention to consumers' sense of participation and experience. The reporter of the Financial Investment News noticed that in the offline market in Chengdu, there are not a few incense culture experience activities. Some are meditation and incense culture, some are outdoor yoga incense, and there are also special incense production institutions engaged in custom incense-related work.

Such activities usually include spice identification, incense making, incense performances, etc., aiming to allow participants to experience the production process of incense sticks and gain an in-depth understanding of the historical connotation and humanities and arts of incense culture. By allowing consumers to participate in the production of incense sticks, they can experience the whole process from material selection to fragrance blending, so as to deepen their understanding and appreciation of incense culture.

Most of the cost-effective incense shops are concentrated online

In the modern consumption model, offline incense stores have become a gathering place for incense lovers with their unique cultural heritage and high-end positioning. However, when it comes to value for money, online channels may be more accessible. The online incense store not only saves rent, water and electricity costs, but also strips away some of the cultural premiums, reducing incense to a handicraft product, no different from traditional handicrafts such as knitting wool and weaving wool felt.

Taking the price as an example, the reporter of the Financial Investment News found that the price of online incense products is much lower than that of offline, a box of incense products only costs a few dozen yuan, and the price of offline products of the same specification is ten times that of it. The price difference is mainly due to factors such as offline labor costs, rent costs, and brand premiums.

The quality of incense sticks is closely related to the recipe, and even if it is the same fragrance, different brands or manufacturers will present different flavors. Since everyone's sense of smell is different, and although smelling can soothe the mood, it is far from being a cure. Therefore, the evaluation of the quality of incense products depends more on the subjective feelings of the individual.

The convenience and economy of online channels make it the preferred way for young people to try incense. The reporter himself also bought the first incense stick in his life through the Internet. On e-commerce platforms such as Taobao, the monthly sales of some special incense products, such as goose pear tent incense, easily exceed 10,000. However, due to the limited market size, it is difficult to achieve considerable profits by selling products alone. As a result, many online stores have diversified their business strategies, selling not only Chinese-style incense sticks, but also explosive salts, indoor aromatherapy, wormwood foot soaking bags and other products.

The boom in the market has also brought some problems. On the black cat complaint platform, complaints about incense sticks are not uncommon, mainly involving problems such as lack of catties and false propaganda by merchants. For example, the actual weight of 10 grams of incense products advertised by some merchants may only be 8 grams, which is not uncommon in the industry.

The road to commercialization of the Chinese incense industry is not clear

But this is not the only reason that hinders the development of incense, according to the investigation of the reporter of the Financial Investment News, there are many shackles that hinder the development of incense.

For example, between natural incense and chemical incense. Because the taste is similar, in order to save money, some unscrupulous merchants do not use incense materials at all, and instead use chemicals to imitate the fragrance of traditional spices.

Natural flavors are plant-derived and processed. It retains the natural aroma of the plant and certain components that are beneficial to health, such as agarwood, sandalwood, etc. These natural fragrances are not only pure in aroma, but also help to enhance the ambiance of the environment and promote physical and mental well-being.

Compared to natural flavors, chemical fragrances lack the healing properties of natural flavors. Long-term inhalation of the gases released by chemical fragrances may cause respiratory diseases or allergic reactions, and even bring more serious health problems.

Distinguishing between chemical and natural scents is not unfounded. By observing the incense ash, touching the fragrance, smelling the fragrance, etc., consumers can distinguish between the two to a certain extent. While there is a lot of information on how to tell the difference, these methods often require consumers to experience them themselves. The reporter of the Financial Investment News observed that the cheap incense stores are mostly concentrated on online platforms, which makes it difficult for consumers to distinguish the authenticity of incense products through sensory experience when shopping online, thus increasing the risk of purchase.

Bad business practices not only undermine consumers' initial impression of incense stick culture, but also shake their trust in the industry as a whole. Consumers may misunderstand incense stick culture after encountering false claims or inferior products, believing that products on the market generally lack quality assurance, thus creating a negative perception of the industry as a whole. The spread of this sentiment will reduce the willingness of potential consumers to try new products, and reduce the vitality and innovation drive of the market.

In addition, the misunderstanding of practitioners on the commercialization of Chinese incense culture is also one of the important reasons hindering the development of Chinese incense industry. In several practitioners interviewed by the reporter of the Financial Investment News, when discussing the commercialization of Chinese-style incense, almost without exception scoffed at this, believing that incense culture should not be linked to money and capital, otherwise it will deteriorate.

But at the same time, these businesses are actively exploring the path of commercialization. For example, there is an incense sales agency that has launched an incense training business, and the price of related courses is about 20,000-50,000 yuan. The clerk told the Financial Investment News reporter that the store provides entrepreneurial opportunities for recent college graduates, and the entrepreneurial opportunity she said is that college graduates can open a store later after taking training courses here, and there will be preferential prices for students to get goods from the store. Refusing to admit it and promoting one's own business behavior from the perspective of charity will cause some potential students to resent it.

As a part of traditional culture, Chinese incense culture has had a fault line in the inheritance of China, and most of the current incense inheritance is improved by later generations according to the classics left by predecessors. Chinese incense culture is both old and young, and it is still a fairly niche industry, and there is no consensus in the market at present. How should Chinese incense culture be inherited? By what means? No unified answer has yet been found.