Talking to 11 brand people about 2024: Will they go overseas? Are they pessimistic? Will they still focus on high-end products?

In today's market environment, how should brands develop? Let's follow the author to find out~

Before I could recover from the Spring Festival holiday, half of Q1 of 2024 has already passed. It is said that opportunities always come to those who are prepared, but in today's market environment, no matter how prepared you are, it seems not enough.

But even if you are not well prepared, you have to hold on. In the past year, some brands have exhausted themselves just to survive, while some brands have gone against the tide and achieved the best results. What is the difference? DaoFa has always been committed to accompanying brands in their growth and spreading brand value. It is not easy to build a brand, and it is even more difficult to build a good brand in today's environment. But we still believe that we should do difficult but right things.

To this end, we interviewed 11 brand operators from different industries to look at this year's trends and growth opportunities from their perspectives, and tried to find some industry consensus and solutions to difficult problems.

1. Consumption cooling-off period, seeking progress in stability

The market is not as good as expected and plans are always being adjusted, but fortunately the essence of the business has not changed.

1. Leke

2023 is the first year after the full recovery after the epidemic, and Leke's single-store operating level has basically returned to 2021. Leke's development in recent years has been smooth, and it is also in our planning and conception. There is a solid foundation here, that is, Leke's single-store model, and the operating benefits and efficiency of the stores are relatively solid.

In 2023, Leke opened more than 300 new stores, and the number of stores in 24 cities across the country reached nearly 1,400. The number of Leke members exceeded 10 million in July. On Double 11 in 2023, Leke's sales across the platform exceeded 456 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 38.2%.

After three years of the epidemic, people have become more aware of the importance of health, not just young people. Fitness, as a way to manage body shape and strengthen the body, has become a "necessity" in the lives of more and more people. The market's willingness to consume continues to rise, and "convenience", "reliability" and "high cost performance" are more favored by consumers.

2. Super Monkey

At the beginning of 2023, everyone may have secretly expected a retaliatory recovery in consumption, but of course it did not happen in reality. But Super Monkey was relatively lucky. After the first month of normal business resumption in March, and last year's Double 11, all data set a record high compared to our own.

But we will not say that this is in line with expectations or not. We believe that this is the accumulation of the brand in the past 9 years. Everything we have done counts, which is why we have the trust and support of users. Facing the present and the future, Super Monkey will make expectations and plans for the business, but we firmly believe from the bottom of our hearts that the only way or shortcut is to do the right thing - serve our users well, manage costs well, and be more cautious when making decisions. Only in this way can we cope with the uncertain future.

3. CATLINK

Consumption recovery is inseparable from the reserve of human and material resources. Throughout 2023, CATLINK doubled its team size compared to the previous year, mainly in terms of the addition of R&D talents. In 2023, the R&D team developed and launched 9 new products, of which Xiaobai Smart Cat Litter Box won the top spot on the pet single product best-selling list on the first day of its launch on Tmall in April, and the cat face recognition smart feeder won the top spot on the Tmall Double 11 high-end feeder sales list on the first day of its launch. The new product has won the 2023 Golden Wheat Award for Quality, the 2023 Asia Pet Annual Cat Explosive Award, and the 2023 IT Expo Annual Top Ten New Products and other awards.

With the overall growth rate of the industry slowing down, the performance of the domestic market naturally did not reach the explosion we expected. If we can't roll inward, we will "roll outward". In 2023, CATLINK's performance in the overseas market exceeded my expectations. Our team achieved 100% performance growth by operating independent sites and Amazon channels. For the domestic market, our current response method is to self-study "internal skills", improve product quality and service, and seize the TOP1 pet smart product brand in the minds of users.

4. Be honest

In order to meet the diversified and upgraded consumer demands in the post-epidemic era, we comprehensively upgraded our brand in 2023, advocating "good protein in every mouthful, eat to protect yourself", and strive to use scientific formulas and high-quality raw materials to bring truly good products and good experiences to pets and parents.

In addition, in 2023 we will also actively engage in public welfare, launch the 4199 sterilization plan, work with university clubs, public welfare organizations and well-known bloggers to build a scientific rescue closed loop, spread scientific rescue concepts, and do our best to create opportunities for stray cats and dogs to enter families and enjoy warmth.

We also encountered some challenges in 2023, but challenges are opportunities. Based on consumer needs, we have made many explorations in areas such as brand exposure, product innovation and channel expansion. We believe that consumers can also feel the sincerity and growth of the brand from these new attempts.

2. The wind is no longer blowing, but there is money everywhere

These segmented growth opportunities can be focused on in 2024.

1. Otter Ton Ton

The past 2023 may be the beginning of the trend of the next decade. We found that with the recovery of consumption, consumer mentality and consumer product structure have also changed. 9.9 has become the standard for shouting, quality-price ratio has become the mainstream trend, and the healthy economy leads the market.

Basic product styles, quality-price ratio, and simple marketing are the three important things this year.

Basic models, for products. In the past two years, in the new tea beverage field, light milk tea with milk + tea as the basic milk tea has become popular all over the country. The most representative one is the recently popular Bawang Cha Ji. Among the many flavors of fruit tea, lemon, orange, peach and other fruit tea drinks are very popular. We also call them the "basic models" of fruit tea. Focusing on these fruit tea flavors with a wider audience, we will make deep Otter Ton Ton fruit tea drinks.

Quality and price ratio, targeted at operations. We will focus on both quality and price, and emulate Bawang Chaji to achieve both quality and price. The fresh fruit tea series featured by Otter Ton Ton is continuously launching a series of membership activities, striving to make the convenient and healthy freeze-dried fruit tea more widely available for audiences to appreciate and drink daily.

Simple marketing, targeted at the market. Universal Internetization does not mean excessive marketing. It is enough to directly show the good side of Otter Ton Ton Freeze-dried Fruit Tea to consumers, avoiding exaggerating about its efficacy and overwhelming aesthetic fatigue. Before more users are exposed to Otter Ton Ton, we hope to devote all our energy to the continuous improvement of product strength and our modest efforts in otter protection.

Less is more. Startups have limited energy, so doing fewer things can make them deeper and better.

2. SUPER BOWL FOODBOWL

FOODBOWL entered the light meal industry in 2015. At that time, most brands were salad brands that introduced Western dietary structures and tastes, with salads and fruit and vegetable juices as core products, carrying the functionality of weight loss or detoxification; but Super Bowl clearly positioned itself as a healthy meal for Chinese people, making hot light meals suitable for the warm and moist stomach of Chinese people.

After the epidemic, people's attention and demand for pan-health have increased, and the entire light food track is also growing. I understand that this is not the Chinese people's pursuit of Western diets labeled "white people's meals" or the increase in functional demands for fat loss and weight loss, but the Chinese people's concept of scientific diet structure, quality ingredients and cooking methods has improved, and of course there is a diversification of tastes. We can see the explosion of many healthy Chinese catering brands and the growth of functional snack brands in 2023, which is also verified from the perspective of practitioners.

In 2024, the Super Bowl will focus on people who pay attention to quality ingredients and have higher demands for cooking methods, such as children, college students, and office workers with sub-health conditions. By positively guiding health concepts and eating habits, using more seasonal ingredients, and launching more nutritionally balanced new product combinations.

3. Super Monkey

People are more looking for cost-effectiveness, no longer obsessed with big anchors or discount gimmicks, but focusing on real experience and sincere recommendations. This cannot be simply and crudely attributed to consumption downgrade. We believe that it is because the public pays more attention to their own emotional feelings and real needs, and has returned to rationality when consuming. Therefore, we believe that as long as it can meet the real needs of the public and conform to "altruism", it is worth doing well.

4. Dreame Technology

In 2023, we will continue to practice the brand concept of "applying cutting-edge technology to the general public", adhere to long-termism, make the best products, and love every one of our consumers. In the past five years full of changes and challenges, Dreame Technology has achieved an annual compound growth rate of more than 100%, and has become a well-deserved leading brand in the home cleaning industry.

In the future, Dreame Technology will continue to invest heavily in research and development to build a deeper technological moat.

5. Nova Coffee

2023 is a year of great changes with both opportunities and challenges. The keywords of Nova Coffee are steady development, brand upgrade, and differentiation. We have noticed the trend of consumers favoring the "low-calorie" health concept and decided to upgrade existing products while taking "rejecting high calories" as a new brand strategy. Brand upgrade is in line with the trend of consumers' demand for health, rejecting high calories while still pursuing better coffee flavor. Such an upgrade is a positive challenge for the team, and our brand will convey a clearer concept after the upgrade.

3. Let’s go and make money overseas!

If you can't roll inwards, then grow outwards.

1. CATLINK

CATLINK has been expanding overseas and has held the top market share in smart cat litter boxes in Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam for three consecutive years, and has been ranked first in the Amazon PrimeDay cat litter box category for two consecutive years.

This year, CATLINK's overseas expansion will focus on three directions:

The first is design localization.

For example, the APP language will be localized and adapted according to different regions, and the product will be adjusted according to pet-raising habits. For example, overseas users prefer to use bentonite, so the mixed sand filter is made in China, and the bentonite filter is made overseas.

The second is to develop products specifically for overseas.

This year we will launch more R&D products specifically for overseas markets. For example, the smart feeder that we sell that can identify and separate meals was developed because overseas users prefer to use special bowls for cats, while domestic users prefer to use one feeder for multiple cats. The main reason for this difference is the different maturity of market development. Domestic users focus on practicality, while overseas users focus on personalization for cats.

The third is the expansion of offline channels.

CATLINK has always wanted to enter the offline supermarkets in the United States. After all, the entire e-commerce only accounts for 10% of the US market. If you just do DTC, you will lose nearly 90% of the market share.

The pet market in the United States is divided into several channels. One is large comprehensive shopping malls, such as Walmart and Costco. Another is vertically integrated chain shopping malls, such as Petsmart and Petco. Further down are small and medium-sized chain shopping malls, such as grooming and washing pet stores or personal pet stores. This year, we will focus on expanding this channel.

2. Super Monkey

In the future, the main business will be to cultivate core cities in China. The Chinese market is huge, and the fitness track is highly fragmented. This well is very deep, and we have only dug a little bit. However, this year, the fitness courses independently developed by Super Monkey have been exported to overseas markets. We have already carried out coach certification training for Super Monkey's self-developed courses in Kuala Lumpur and Rome. Overseas Chinese are a huge consumer group. Super Monkey's self-developed courses are targeted at the diversified needs of Chinese users. We are honored to be able to go overseas to serve overseas Chinese. Not only is the course design more in line with the physical characteristics of Asians, but it can also bring a sense of intimacy and belonging to Chinese working overseas.

4. Pessimism or optimism is a choice

It is said that pessimists are right and optimists move forward. How do you understand this sentence?

1. CATLINK

I am an optimist. I personally believe that the industry has always been driven forward by those who are brave enough to put it into practice. Practice makes perfect. No matter whether the result of your attempt is good or bad, it is a treasure for the industry.

Take CATLINK for example. When we were founded in 2017, the smart cat litter box market was still blank, and even pet consumers knew little about the category of automatic cat litter boxes.

CATLINK was the first trendsetter, creating the category of smart cat litter boxes. While constantly trialing and erroring, it also took on the role of educating the market: a smart product that is good for cats must have Wi-Fi and data transmission functions. Today, more and more brands are joining the pet smart product track, and I remain optimistic. Previously, only CATLINK was in the education market, but now there are so many friends who help me say: technology can sense the health of pets. Choosing technology means choosing a healthier pet-raising life, and jointly creating a benign development environment for the pet industry. CATLINK will also always be at the forefront of innovation and bring more possibilities to the industry.

2. Otter Ton Ton

A not blind optimist, but a pragmatic idealist.

In the past three years of development, Otter Ton Ton has encountered many changes (warehouse closures due to the epidemic, lack of experience in new business, etc.). We have always taken solving problems as our purpose and have developed tenaciously.

3. Super Monkey

I think the saying "pessimists are right" is completely irrational and ridiculous. All we can do is move forward and be optimistic. My understanding of optimism is not to believe that the external environment will get better, or to believe that someone will help you. Optimism is to actively solve problems on your own and move forward regardless of whether the external environment is good or not. Super optimism is to presuppose that the environment is super bad, and be happily surprised if it is not bad enough. We Super Chimps do not choose between pessimism and optimism, but are determined to be those super optimistic psychopaths.

What Super Monkey is doing is a business where one person ignites another. Who would choose to spend money, time and sweat on "anti-human" fitness? It is the group of people who are sometimes lazy in winter and can't help eating some Dorayaki during the fat-reducing period, but are unwilling to admit defeat in their bones, believe that their fate is in their own hands, and are struggling like us. In today and the future full of uncertainty and challenges, the business we are doing is even more precious. What we provide is dopamine and endorphins, happiness and confidence!

Our mission is to influence more people to live a healthy and shining life. How do we influence more people? In addition to the most basic professional knowledge and professional services, it is our own shining spirit!

4. SUPER BOWL FOODBOWL

Expect the worst results, make plans for the worst-case scenarios in each link, and then take positive action; often the results will be better than expected. I am a positive pessimist.

5. Yihetang

Pessimists like to stand at the end and say, "Look, the result is just as I thought, not good." But in fact, they surrender early and let the bad result come naturally. It is somewhat self-proving. But optimists like to keep saying on the road, "Look, there may be a chance before the end." In fact, they compromise later, so that the bad result will come later or even forgotten.

I am an optimist because I am fascinated by the diverse possibilities of the world, while pessimists expect fewer possibilities.

5. Cost-effectiveness or high-end, not a choice between the two

Brands are being pushed to the two extremes of cost-effectiveness and high-end, and the space for survival in the middle is getting smaller and smaller. Is there any other choice?

1. Leke

Leke's original intention is to provide the most convenient, friendly, lowest threshold and freest exercise scene to help more people develop exercise habits or general exercise habits. Further analysis is to get more people into the gym so that everyone can have more time to exercise. We believe that a good user experience is first more convenient, second cost-effective, and third good coaches and good courses.

2. CATLINK

Behind consumers' pursuit of cost-effectiveness is actually a lack of confidence in the consumer market. Is high-end really high-end? Consumers have doubts about the brand's ability to command a premium.

As a pet brand dedicated to using technology to create a healthy and beautiful life for people and pets, CATLINK’s positioning has never been price, but service.

CATLINK has always been at the forefront of the industry in improving the service experience of consumers, such as taking the lead in launching online consultation services for pet doctors, door-to-door product cleaning services, and old-for-new services. We have a special after-sales service system called C-CARE. This innovative service can eliminate all after-sales concerns of consumers when purchasing CATLINK products. Consumers will not question the pricing of products, but focus more on the functions of the products themselves.

Therefore, brands should not be restricted by "price-performance" and "high-end". What you sell is never the product but the service behind it. When a brand improves its service, it is improving its premium ability.

3. SUPER BOWL FOODBOWL

As a catering brand for the general public, the positioning of Super Bowl FOODBOWL has always been based on user value. In 2023, consumption will become polarized, and I will regard this as the actual choice of consumers.

Regarding cost-effectiveness or high-end, the basic consensus of the team is that we do not want to be a more affordable Wagas, but a healthier McDonald's. Price and positioning are not a single choice made by the brand, but should be based on respect for user consumption behavior.

4. Super Monkey

I think the essence is "value for money". Apart from functionality, most of the user consumption is based on emotional value. Today, users care more about value for money. I understand "high-end" as actually being very expensive. These high-end brands deliver significantly more emotional value than cheaper products, and are actually more cost-effective than those "parity substitutes".

Products that deliver functional value are more cost-effective. Super Monkey will have its own brand matrix, and products in every price range in the matrix must achieve this. After comparison, users will feel that buying Super Monkey is more worthwhile.

5. Yihetang

The K-shaped economic development in the economic recovery phase is also inevitable. High-priced products that are rising all the way meet the psychological needs of growth and are the needs of the high value at the top of the pyramid. Low-priced products that are falling all the way meet basic needs and originally only matched the bottom of the pyramid, but because of the reduction of information gaps, a high-cost-performance market has emerged, and the demand matches the pyramid class.

These two states will coexist. The two forces will work together to form a good currency to drive out the bad currency and accelerate the upgrading of the industry. Yihetang will continue to adhere to the brand value of high stability and price and innovation leadership.

6. Be honest

From the perspective of consumers, high-end and low-price are two dimensions of pursuit. Honest Yikou will not be involuted at low prices, nor will it blindly pursue high-end. It will always adhere to the brand concept of "honesty, transparency, and principles" to create a variety of cost-effective choices for consumers.

7. McFoodie

In 2023, the market showed a polarization phenomenon between cost-effectiveness and high-endness. This trend shows that user needs are becoming more diversified and segmented: on the one hand, some users are more concerned about the cost-effectiveness of products under the influence of economic pressure or changes in consumption concepts; on the other hand, high-income groups and users with higher pursuit of quality of life continue to favor high-end brands and the added value they bring.

The choice of future development direction should not be a simple choice between "cost-effectiveness" and "high-end", but corresponding strategies should be formulated based on the company's strategic positioning, target market and core competitiveness. Therefore, Myfood will have corresponding layouts in these two directions.

8. Dreame Technology

One of the preparations we have made for consumption recovery is to firmly adhere to the high-end strategy, and the other is to significantly expand our offline stores.

In terms of high-endization, we believe that as a new generation of consumer brand, we should not use "low-end, cost-effectiveness" as our core competitiveness in the global market, but instead adhere to "long-termism" and establish more recognizable high-end brands that can transcend time cycles, and establish brand premium and independent pricing power in the global market.

According to GfK data, in October 2023, in the Chinese market, Dreame Technology successfully took the first place in the large cleaning appliance market with a market share of 22.5%. At the same time, the Dreame sweeping robot took a market share of 37.9%, firmly standing first in the high-end sweeping robot market in the 5,000+ price segment. In the international market, many of our high-end products have also been recognized by local consumers. During the French Black Friday in 2023, the Dreame sweeping robot surpassed Dyson to take the first place in the French "Black Friday" cleaning category.

In terms of channels, Dreame Technology will vigorously promote the construction of global offline channels in 2023. As of the end of December 2023, the offline channels in the Chinese market have covered more than 180 cities, and the number of stores has exceeded 800. In the future, you will see Dreame Technology in more and more landmark shopping malls around the world.

In this process, we have always adhered to the strategy of improving the innovation capability and technological leadership of product research and development, relying on the world's first leading technology to win more than half of the high-priced market share. For example, our sweeper team has spent half a year, tested 37 solutions and verified thousands of scenarios, and developed the world's first bionic robotic arm technology, helping the robotic arm series of sweeping robots become the most high-end explosive products in the industry.

9. Kalala

Looking at the year 2023, we also found that consumption has formed a very polarized growth trend, one is climbing up, and the other is going down. In other words, there is also a phenomenon of consumption stratification in the cosmetic contact lens track, that is, the growth rate of high and low customer unit prices is faster than that of intermediate products.

Under this trend, we believe that "winning more with less" is more important, and using "less" things can solve key problems. Only by learning to do subtraction and targeting a precise group of people can we "divide people into groups" and only by making a good product can we "attract like by like".

We performed three subtractions:

1. Disposable type reduction: During 2016-2019, we found that the growth rate of daily disposables was very fast, and there were few products on the market that could meet the eye health needs of the core high-spending population (such as white-collar groups), which led to their outflow. Corresponding to the psychological trend of domestic consumer quality upgrades, we immediately confirmed that daily disposables were the core best-selling disposable type.
2. Selling point reduction: only focus on the first level pain point. For example, the core of the hyaluronic acid series is to solve the problem of dryness that may occur after long-term wear. When we communicate with consumers, we only focus on this point and focus on hyaluronic acid preservative liquid, rather than other parameters such as oxygen permeability and water content, to avoid the situation where "too many factors" lead to reduced recognition.
3. Color reduction: Avoid launching too many colors at one time, which may cause users to have "difficulty in choosing" and other dilemmas. Control the number of new colors. After the product design is completed, classify the product colors through internal testing, user grayscale testing and other methods, and strive to create multiple S-level hot-selling products.

Returning to the question itself, we believe that it is impossible to make qualitative requirements for any consumer group. We should still focus more on the product itself, enrich the price range of the overall channel, and bring more high-quality product choices to the market while meeting user needs.

Author: Knife Skills Content Team; WeChat Official Account: Knife Skills Research Institute