Original by Phoenix E-commerce Research Institute
Author: Xiaoyuan Editor: He An Typesetting: A certain Jiang
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1. With a large number of short video streams, the promotion of stars such as Meng Ziyi, Ying'er, and Lou Yixiao, the big anchors such as Make a Friend Live Room, Three Sheep Network, and 24-hour uninterrupted self-broadcasting, Dr. Wen has created a sales miracle of Douyin white label. In the first quarter of this year, Dr. Wen squeezed into the top 10 beauty products on Douyin in the first quarter with a GMV of 250-500 million, surpassing big brands such as Estee Lauder and Lancôme, with a cumulative GMV of more than 750 million in half a year (2023.12-2024.05). 2. The authenticity of Dr. Wen's brand promotion and the identity of the founder is doubtful. Dr. Wen claims to be an old Chinese brand, but its related companies have been established in recent years. Dr. Wen once released a short video "Founder Chen Chunhua" asking major Internet celebrities and anchors to quit the goods industry in the form of "real-name appeal", and this Chen Chunhua is "Founder Liu Lihua" in the promotion videos of other brands. 3. The ingredients of Dr. Wen's best-selling products are suspicious, such as Dr. Wen's B5 Salicylic Acid Mask uses salicylic acid as the marketing focus, but Salicylic Acid is only a trace ingredient in the mask, with a content of no more than 0.1%, and most of the top ingredients in the ingredient list are some thickeners and preservatives. The quality and effectiveness of the product have also been criticized. 4. The process of standardized development of beauty white label has a long way to go, and what is needed is not only the brand's own efforts, focusing on word-of-mouth and products, but also the platform taking responsibility and strengthening supervision, so that the brand can go further and further. ———————————————— current consumer trend of increasing pursuit of beauty and skin health, "blackhead removal" has become the focus of many consumers' attention, and this market has also become a segment with great potential. As a result, Dr. Wen, who is targeting this market, has created a sales miracle of Douyin white label with the help of this trend.
Douyin's top 10 beauty in the first quarter of 2024, source: Jumei
In the first half of 2024, the Douyin patch mask category ranking source: Feigua Data Before November 2023, Dr. Wen's popularity was almost zero, but since the promotion began at the end of November, Dr. Wen quickly rose to the 24th place on the Douyin skin care list with a GMV of nearly 100 million in December, and in the first quarter of this year, Dr. Wen squeezed into the top 10 of Douyin's beauty in the first quarter with a GMV of 250-500 million, ranking seventh, surpassing big brands such as Estee Lauder and Lancôme. From January to May, Dr. Wen's average monthly sales on the Douyin platform alone exceeded 100 million, and sometimes even reached 200 million in a single month, with a cumulative GMV of more than 750 million in half a year (2023.12-2024.05). At the same time, the brand's main product, B5 salicylic acid mask, has topped the Douyin beauty-patch mask for 5 consecutive months, and the sales volume of the Douyin platform alone has reached 560w+. Burning money and investing in domestic gimmicks, Dr. Wen's road to fame is the same as most Douyin white labels, but whether such a "success code" can support the long-term development of a brand is indeed a problem that must be considered behind Dr. Wen's sales myth.
01 Backed by the "Xiamen Gang", Dr. Wen's road to fame "We are ugly, we can't afford marketing, we can't afford endorsements, but we have always taken every product seriously." This is a phrase that often appears in Dr. Wen's Douyin videos. But in fact, the reason why Dr. Wen was able to become famous quickly relied on the rise of "massive short video streaming, celebrity endorsement, ultra-low product pricing, flaunting conscientious domestic products, and 24-hour uninterrupted self-broadcasting".
Source: Screenshot of Meng Ziyi and Yinger's promotional video Dr. Wen has opened many accounts on Douyin, such as Dr. Wen's official flagship store, Dr. Wen's beauty flagship store, and Dr. Wen's skin care flagship store, updating thousands of videos every month, and using massive and visually impactful short videos to attract traffic. Dr. Wen also cooperated with stars such as Meng Ziyi, Ying'er, and Lou Yixiao, and cooperated with big anchors such as Make a Friend Live Room and Three Sheep Network to bring goods, and quickly increased his popularity.
Source: Screenshot of Dr. Wen's short video and live broadcast room Dr. Wen also created a "people-friendly" brand image through short videos, often emphasizing that he is a "domestic product that sticks to his original intention", and also insists on taking the low-price route. The unit price of most of the products in Dr. Wen's store is 49.9 yuan or 59.9 yuan, and the unit price of the main B5 soothing salicylic acid mask is 49.9 yuan, and the customer service of Dr. Wen's skin care flagship store said that a bag of 200ml of mask can be used for about a month, which is equivalent to a daily cost of only about 1.67 yuan, which makes Dr. Wen's image of "cheap and conscientious domestic products" deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Once you have a good image, you can rely on this brand image to bring consumers and generate revenue. Dr. Wen mainly relies on the sales channel of brand self-broadcasting on the Douyin platform, and has many accounts, each of which conducts 24-hour uninterrupted self-broadcasting, enhancing consumers' purchase confidence through live broadcast room construction, speech design, background patches, etc., to ensure that consumers can interact with the anchor at any time and quickly convert into actual purchasing power. According to Blueeye Intelligence, Dr. Wen's self-operated sales account for more than 90% of all sales. After the success of Douyin, Dr. Wen also actively expanded to other platforms, and the B5 salicylic acid mask in Dr. Wen's Taobao flagship store ranked second on the Tmall pore shrinking mask hot list, dominating the top three for 8 weeks, realizing the harvest of consumers on the whole platform. In fact, Dr. Wen's success is not an isolated case, but a microcosm of the rise of Douyin's "Xiamen Gang". Dr. Wen is operated by Xiamen Haini E-commerce Co., Ltd., in addition to Dr. Wen, Haini Group also owns brands such as BUV and KAZOO, all of which have ushered in a sales explosion this year. In addition, white labels such as Xianfeige, VC, and DPDP have also become popular under the operation of Xiamen e-commerce companies. With their popularity, Xiamen beauty e-commerce companies have also become the focus of attention, and these companies are called "Xiamen Gang". With the marketing formula of "low-cost and high-profit beauty products + high-cost ratio projection + low brand trial and error cost", Douyin's "Xiamen Gang" has created a number of white-label beauty sales myths, and even attracted the core management of Proya and Bethany to visit, and exchanged views on the two major topics of new media marketing and brand building.
02 False publicity, quality worries, and the question-ridden Dr. Wen has accompanied Dr. Wen's popularity and his raising, which has also affected consumers' trust in Dr. Wen's brand. (1) The identity of the founder is in doubt
Dr. Wen's skincare flagship store once released a video of the "founder" Chen Chunhua asking major Internet celebrities and anchors to withdraw from the goods industry in the form of a "real-name appeal", and declared, "I will not raise its price in order to make more money, we all produce and sell it ourselves." However, the person who claims to be Chen Chunhua in this video, she also claims to be the founder in the brand promotion video of Jiang Wuhei, this time called "Liu Lihua", and also claims to be the founder in the promotion videos of brands such as GUEKK, KAZOO, BUV, etc., and the "founder Chen Chunhua" is not seen in the company associated with Dr. Wen.
Source: Screenshot of Dr. Wen's promotion short video on the Kuaishou platform, there are many people with different appearances who claim to be "Chen Chunhua", and they are repeating the same words to recommend Dr. Wen's mask.
(2) The brand promotion is suspicious, Dr. Wen advertises himself as an old domestic product, but the publicity caliber is inconsistent, some videos claim to be a 30-year-old domestic product, and some claim to be a 50-year-old domestic product, but the enterprise investigation shows that Dr. Wen's affiliated companies have only been established in recent years.
At the same time, Dr. Wen also claimed that he had been recommended by CCTV, but later netizens picked up the CCTV recommendation picture promoted by Dr. Wen "all depends on P (retouching)", and there was no Dr. Wen in the original picture. The promotional video officially released by the brand was also evaluated by netizens as the comparison of the before and after effects was all based on dermabrasion, and various behaviors were questioned by consumers for false publicity.
(3) The composition of the product is suspicious
Dr. Wen B5 Salicylic Acid Mask Ingredient List Source: The State Food and Drug Administration and Beauty Cultivation Dr. Wen's best-selling product B5 Salicylic Acid Mask has always been a marketing focus with salicylic acid, and even used to name it, Meng Ziyi said that Dr. Wen Mask contains 2% salicylic acid and 5% provitamin B5 when recommending the product. However, in the ingredient list behind its products, salicylic acid and B5 are only trace ingredients in the mask, with a content of no more than 0.1%, while the top ingredients in the ingredient list are mostly some thickeners and preservatives except for water.
(4) The effect of use is doubtful
Source: Screenshot of Dr. Wen's feedback on Douyin and Xiaohongshu platform Dr. Wen not only has doubts about the founder's identity, brand history and publicity, but also the quality and effectiveness of the product have been criticized for a long time. On platforms such as Xiaohongshu, Douyin, and Black Cat Complaints, you can see lightning protection stickers from consumers who have used Dr. Wen everywhere, saying that the quality of the mask is worrying, and they can't even hang their faces, and they will fall off immediately when they are applied to their faces. Dr. Wen officially said that the product has been tested for hypoallergenic and is also suitable for sensitive skin, but many consumers reported that they had allergic problems after using the product, and there were also stinging, redness, acne, and bad face. This kind of question-ridden brand, despite its vigorous marketing, can't hide its problems.
03 The platform is limited in flow and sales, although the end of Dr. Wen's myth is outstanding, Dr. Wen seems to be like other white card fate, and he can't escape the curse of "red for half a year".
Source: Feigua Data Platform Dr. Wen's Douyin data and sales-related screenshots Since June, Dr. Wen has been restricted by the Douyin platform, and the data on the Douyin platform has declined significantly. With this current restriction, Dr. Wen's sales have also fallen off a cliff, and the sales volume of Dr. Wen's Douyin platform in June was only 2500w-5000w.
Source: Kuaishou's "List of Restricted Well-known Beauty Brands" In the "List of Restricted Well-known Beauty Brands" updated by the Kuaishou platform to expand the scope of governance and increase control, the number of restricted brands has increased to 47, and Dr. Wen is impressively listed. Dr. Wen quickly harvested consumers in a short period of time through savage streaming methods, and ushered in a short-term explosion, but now he has lost the traffic he relies on for survival, and Dr. Wen's sales myth has also come to an end. For Dr. Wen and all white-label beauty, taking shortcuts to make quick money is not a long-term solution, and if you want to go further, you must work intensively and pay attention to word-of-mouth and products. Of course, the process of developing the white label standard has a long way to go, and it requires more than just the efforts of the brand itself. According to the Douyin beauty list in April 2024, not only Dr. Wen, but also domestic brands such as Jiaorunquan, puco, and VC have achieved a year-on-year growth of more than 480%. Douyin and Kuaishou have given these brands the opportunity to achieve sales explosion through marketing, but at the same time, these platforms also need to consolidate their own responsibilities, strengthen the supervision of product quality and brand promotion, and force brands to achieve higher quality development. With the efforts of many parties, domestic brands can go further and further.
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