Reporter Jiang Tianjiao
The time-honored brand's insistence on quality, inheritance of craftsmanship, and historical and cultural accumulation of the brand are the foundation for its long-term development.
In today's increasingly fierce market competition, the advantage of time-honored brands lies in their "oldness", and the way out lies in integrity and innovation.
"It's not that foreign brands can't afford it, but that domestic products are more cost-effective." Since last year, old domestic brands have been "joining together to fight for business" and have had their best moments.
Consumers who originally placed orders with the mentality of "paying for feelings" and "supporting domestic products" unexpectedly discovered that some old-fashioned domestic products are "really delicious": not only have they made breakthroughs in technology, quality, innovation, etc., but also in culture, aesthetics, emotion, etc. There are also more expressions.
This year’s “Government Work Report” clearly states that new consumption growth points such as “trendy products” of domestic products will be actively cultivated.
How do long-standing domestic products become popular after they become popular?
Recently, reporters interviewed many companies.
From online to offline
With the news that "Xie Fuchun eyebrow powder bought for 38 yuan has only broken the skin after 9 years of use" became a hot search topic, Xie Fuchun, a time-honored brand in Yangzhou, has successfully captured the hearts of young people pursuing cost-effectiveness.
"At the peak of popularity, Xie Fuchun's online sales exceeded 10 million yuan, and the daily shipment volume reached a maximum of 18,000 pieces." Zhang Yunlu, chairman of Yangzhou Xie Fuchun Beauty E-Commerce Co., Ltd., told reporters.
Sun Yuanyuan, a consumer who lives in Chaoyang District, Beijing, has just graduated from college and bought a set of Xie Fuchun's eyebrow powder with the mentality of giving it a try: "Not only does it look amazing, but the usability is not inferior to imported brands." What makes Sun Yuanyuan most excited It is the packaging design of the product, which is both traditional and modern, and is very in line with the "national trend" style pursued by young people today.
Xie Fuchun was once famous for its "Three Wonders" of balm, duck egg powder and osmanthus head oil. For some time, the brand image was too traditional and it was difficult to win the favor of young consumers.
Zhang Yunlu believes that for time-honored companies to become “trendy”, they must actively embrace the Internet and learn more from young e-commerce brands in terms of marketing strategies.
In 2009, Xie Fuchun officially established an e-commerce department. In 2012, he settled in Tmall and opened Xie Fuchun's official flagship store. Later, he entered large e-commerce platforms such as JD.com and Xiaohongshu.
In April 2022, Xie Fuchun officially launched the Douyin live broadcast business.
"Internet marketing makes brands much younger." Zhang Yunlu said.
Wufangzhai is also a time-honored brand and has been online for many years.
Xu Wei, deputy general manager of Wufangzhai Industrial, told reporters that the company has been actively paying attention to new trends and changes in e-commerce channels and seeking new paths for brand development.
With the help of e-commerce platforms, some well-established domestic products have made full efforts in consumer group insights, product innovation, marketing methods, etc., and have been seen by consumers again with a younger image.
"Time-honored brands have become popular through the Internet, but we cannot ignore the creation of offline consumption scenarios." Li Dianhao, general manager of Guangzhou Restaurant Group E-Commerce Co., Ltd., told reporters that only online and offline marketing activities are deeply connected and combined into one. Only then can strong marketing and communication power be formed.
For example, the camping trend has been very popular in the past two years. Guangzhou Restaurant has used the new method of "camping + self-heating instant food" to meet the needs of young consumers for self-heating instant food. It has also innovated Cantonese dim sum around "making tea around the stove" The set meals are very popular among consumers.
"We not only capture the attention of netizens online through live broadcasts, but also create a number of new consumption scenarios offline, guide online traffic to offline, and continue to ignite brand popularity." Li Dianhao said.
Xie Fuchun has already deployed 20 experience stores in Yangzhou.
In the Pishi Street experience store, in addition to product display, it also designed intangible cultural heritage skills training, Guqin performance, Xie Fuchun historical and cultural exhibition walls, etc., and developed into an experience-oriented "entity+" by creating an interactive and experiential consumption scene. "Internet" online and offline integration of the "new retail" model.
"Consumers not only need the convenience of online ordering, but also need to experience the 'flavored powder' culture of the century-old brand Xie Fuchun up close. Old brands should also seize the opportunity of experiential consumption to enhance customer stickiness." Jiangsu Xie Fuchun National Cosmetics Co., Ltd. Tong Ling, deputy secretary of the company’s party branch, said.
Tell a good brand story
Last year, 55 Chinese time-honored brands across the country were "delisted" due to poor management, insufficient innovation and other issues. This also made many time-honored companies realize that "Chinese time-honored brands" are not "life-long" and can only continue to adapt to the market while inheriting and carrying forward traditions. Only with changes and consumer demands can we become an evergreen tree that remains standing.
Tell the brand story well and dig deep into the cultural connotation.
"There is no more fragrant powder in the world than Yangzhou."
Tong Ling introduced that as the only company inheriting Yangzhou fragrance powder, "orientalization, naturalization and humanism" are the eternal connotations of Xie Fuchun's brand.
In 2020, the Rose Fragrance Industrial Ecological Park, a landmark of the origin of Xie Fuchun brand products, was established.
The Rose Fragrance Industrial Ecological Park has achieved origin protection, high-quality raw material supply, and restored Xie Fuchun's traditional flower dyeing process, perfectly interpreting Xie Fuchun's "oriental, natural, and humanistic" brand connotation.
While maintaining the "old taste", time-honored brands are also constantly innovating.
Dong Shengyang, who sells orange cakes in Ningbo, was founded in 1931. In the local area, orange cakes have a homophonic sound of "auspicious" and are an indispensable souvenir when visiting relatives and friends.
"Brands can be old, but products and tastes must change with the development of the times." Yang Lin, the fourth generation successor of Dong Shengyang, said that old Ningbo pastries are famous for their crisp, soft and crisp characteristics. Nowadays, "popular" New flavors such as "Liu Xin" have become the favorites of young people.
Starting from new consumer demands, Dong Shengyang continuously launches new products that attract young people.
"The memories on the tongue of one generation after another are not static. Only through continuous innovation can time-honored brands re-enter the eyes and hearts of the younger generation." Yang Lin said.
In addition to continuous innovation in products, time-honored brands also integrate traditional cultural elements and unique brand stories into their products to win the recognition of young consumers.
Xie Fuchun's offline stores are very particular and are usually set up in ancient streets, ancient towns, ancient lanes and ancient cities to highlight the cultural connotation of the brand.
The brand also cooperates with scenic spots and special IPs to create co-branded models to consolidate Xie Fuchun's reputation and brand influence in the physical market.
"The sense of identity and belonging brought by traditional culture makes domestic products exude unique charm, thus detonating the consumer market." Tong Ling said.
Seize market opportunities
"The rise of time-honored brands is a process of accumulation." Experts believe that compared with new brands that have emerged rapidly within two or three years, time-honored brands' persistence in quality, inheritance of craftsmanship, and historical and cultural accumulation of the brand are the foundation for their long-term development.
In today's increasingly fierce market competition, the advantage of time-honored brands lies in their "oldness", and the way out lies in integrity and innovation.
Only by adhering to the original intention can we innovate better.
Xu Wei believes that time-honored brands must properly handle the relationship between inheritance and innovation, and tell the story of time-honored brands well in the innovation process.
Only by continuously improving its comprehensive strength and competitiveness can the brand's revival and development be truly realized.
Opportunity awaits those who are prepared.
After the Internet "came out of the circle", Xie Fuchun promptly seized market opportunities and made structural adjustments to inventory through big data prediction.
In the first half of this year, Xie Fuchun will also upgrade and switch to e-commerce logistics cloud warehouses to improve logistics delivery timeliness and packaging quality, and optimize consumers' shopping experience.
Nowadays, more and more time-honored brands are revitalizing themselves with the help of new platforms and new technologies.
Expert analysis points out that traditional enterprises urgently need to undergo digital transformation.
On the one hand, traffic empowers the development of enterprises and expands the sales channels of traditional enterprises; on the other hand, digitalization can also help enterprises improve quality, increase efficiency and reduce costs, allowing traditional enterprises to be more efficient and better serve customers.
The popularity of old domestic products is both an opportunity and a challenge.
Experts believe that many well-established domestic products have become popular mainly because they have caught on to the new trend of rational consumption among today’s consumers.
Compared with chasing international big brands, consumers nowadays pay more attention to the quality-price ratio of products.
Only by insisting on better quality and better prices can time-honored brands achieve long-term success.