After the outbreak of the pandemic, there was a "consumption downgrade" boom in all consumer sectors: seasonal food was quietly popular, the average price of SKUs was not more than double digits in the rapid expansion of Misue Ice City stores, offline fashion games/department store collection everywhere, even mobile phone manufacturers began to roll up mid-range flagship...

But only in the field of beauty and skin care, there is a trend against the trend. Those international brands that are not competitive in price are selling heavily, while the perfect diary beauty and flower girl are being held underground.

SK-II, Estee Lauder and Helena took the top three spots on the beauty and skin care sales list during the recent holiday season, according to data released by JD's new department store. Some of the most popular items on the platform, including SK-II Spirit Water, Estee Lauder Little Brown Bottle, Starv Big White Jar Moisturizer, Dior Lipstick (Flame-Blue Gold 999) and YSL Little Gold Bar Lipstick 1966, are all high - to mid-price brands.

This phenomenon of international brands backstabbing local new consumer brands has been common in the past few years during e-commerce shopping festivals such as Singles' Day and 618. Statistics from IT Orange show that since 2020, L 'Oreal and Estee Lauder have held the top two positions in China's high-end beauty market, while the share of local brands has become increasingly rare.

The counterattack by international brands and the decline of local Internet celebrities are evidence of the shifting consumer winds.

New consumer brands such as Perfect Diary and Huaxizi have long touted themselves as the "local equivalent" of international brands. These brands maintain a youthful and trendy image through marketing and planting grass, creating a tonality that distinguishes them from the old domestic brands. The lower price is also more in line with the consumption power of young users. But when international brands win back the favor of consumers, they naturally no longer have the value of existence.

But the Value Institute (jiazhiyanjiusuo) argues that consumers aren't disinterested in value, just that their metrics have changed: They're more interested in the value of the product itself than in KOL's planting and fancy marketing.

Packaging is not so important anymore, and good quality is what convinces consumers to spend. Even if Estee Lauder or L 'Oreal are much more expensive than the perfect diary, consumers will still be persuaded by the quality -- which is, after all, the perfect diary's Achilles heel.

For a long time in the past, all the product lines of Yixian e-commerce are in use of OEM/ODM OEM mode, OEM production of products is not stable, the brand of the supply chain is also lack of control. Influencer marketing, quick access and low prices can help perfect diaries open up the market at certain times, but if you want to retain users, you still need to use the product to talk.

For the Yixian e-commerce is seeking transformation, heavy marketing, light research and development, do not pay attention to the construction of supply chain play method in urgent need to update, otherwise it is difficult to walk out of the shadow of the past.

But after looking at the company's latest financial results, the Value Institute is a little concerned about the path of its transformation -- that the jiazhiyanjiusuo baton is also being hit on research and development.

Data show that Yixian e-commerce R D expenses in the fourth quarter of 25.10 million yuan, year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter respectively down 25.96% and 42.03%, R D expense rate also decreased from 2.8% in the same period in 2021 to 2.5%, the annual R D expense rate is 3.4%. If compared with Estee Lauder, SK-II and other international brands, this investment scale is even more humble.

Although there is nothing wrong with cutting costs, it is difficult to make breakthroughs in product development without sufficient investment. In this aspect of cost reduction and product innovation, Yixian e-commerce also need to find a balance.

Fortunately, the quest for change continues. At the performance conference held on March 9, the company announced that it will hire Cheng Jing, former vice president of Asia Pacific Research and Development of Estee Lauder, as its chief technology officer. Cheng Jing has 25 years of research and development experience in the beauty and skin care industry, and believes that he can significantly strengthen its research and development team.

Transitions are painful. I hope this time, Yi Xian e-commerce can realize the importance of research and development, practice good internal force - more hope in Yi Xian e-commerce under the lead, more local brands realize the importance of transformation, say goodbye to heavy marketing, light research and development of the old set.