How did Lifen, Vichy and Bosideng make it to the Double 11 list with strategic new products?

Do you know where the mainstream platforms focused on during this year's Double Eleven? What marketing methods did brands in various fields use to attract consumers' attention? Let's take a look!

Looking back at the history of Double Eleven, it seems like a history of consumption changes: from clearing inventory at half price, to shopping at low prices, to stockpiling large quantities of consumables, to now, many consumers are willing to buy big items on Double Eleven, and brands also choose to launch annual strategic new products before Double Eleven, using this as a lever to drive the largest sales event of the year.

This year, several major mainstream platforms have placed "new products" in a strategic position during Double Eleven: Tmall proposed to launch more new brands and new products with unprecedented strength, and continue to consolidate the consumer mindset of "buy new products on Tmall"; Douyin e-commerce has made "key products" the core gameplay of the Douyin Mall Double Eleven Good Products Festival, providing exclusive rights and interests such as tens of millions of goods subsidies, hundreds of millions of traffic subsidies, exposure of golden resources on and off the terminal, and an exclusive product atmosphere.

So, are there any representative gameplays driven by new products in each category?

What can brands learn from this? When the first wave of Double 11 came to an end, the Knife Skills Research Institute selected six representative "product-driven" brands, covering 3C electronics, food and beverage, beauty and personal care, clothing, maternal and child care, and pets. Their strategies are unique:

• Laifen: Learn from Dyson and Apple, the first in porcelain-style marketing
• Starbucks: Multiple coupons and low prices return, big promotions across all platforms to boost sales
• Santonban: Create a "new" stockpiling mentality and accelerate the penetration of lifestyle
• Vichy DERCOS: The celebrity spokespersons have matured their strategy and seized the trend track
• Bosideng: Keeping pace with the season and creating new trendy products of "jacket +"
• Beidemei & Honest Yikou: Grasping both existing and incremental sales, stockpiling and attracting new customers

1. Laifen: Learn from Dyson and then Apple, the first in porcelain-like marketing

Electric toothbrush, what's new?

Relying on a mature supply chain, domestic brands such as Xiaomi have been able to reduce the unit price of electric toothbrushes to less than 100 yuan. However, according to statistics, the penetration rate of electric toothbrushes in China is still only about 8%. This month, Lefen, a dark horse in the domestic high-speed hair dryer market, also came to disrupt the electric toothbrush industry.

On October 16, Lifen Technology launched a new category of "sweeping vibration electric toothbrush" for this year's Double Eleven. Although the price is mid-range, Lifen's sales feedback seems to be good: pre-sale reached 20,000 units, all sold out in 4 minutes and 27 seconds; in the JD electric toothbrush ranking, it has surpassed Xiaomi to rank first.

However, the new products of Laifen exude a familiar "Apple flavor" everywhere. Whether it is the press conference, promotional videos, or product accessories and packaging, they are all very similar to Apple.

In the promotional images and copywriting, it copied Apple's homework. In terms of products, similar to Apple Watch, the prices are differentiated by material, with three versions: stainless steel, aluminum alloy, and optical white, priced at 499 yuan, 399 yuan, and 299 yuan respectively.

In terms of packaging, the official "One Article to Understand the Lifen Sweeping Vibration Electric Dental Brush Product Launch" also made no secret of the fact that Apple's suppliers were specially selected for the packaging to give users an "iPhone-like unboxing experience."

It has to be said that Lifen is a mature veteran in "touching porcelain marketing". When it started out with high-speed hair dryers, it made a big fuss about "Dyson alternatives": a short video titled "Compared to Dyson? Are domestic products really inferior to imported ones?" has been played more than 13 million times. Subsequent product updates and new color gift boxes also look more and more "Dyson".

Whether it is "Dyson alternative" or "fruit-flavored toothbrush", Lifen uses high-end brands that are familiar to the public in its marketing and promotion. Its logic seems to be this: it is better to grow directly on the fertile brand soil of Dyson and Apple than to cultivate a piece of land from scratch.

2. Starbucks: Multiple coupons and low prices return, and big promotions across all platforms boost sales

"Starbucks is such a great deal on Double Eleven."

Open Xiaohongshu and you will see a screen full of "bargain hunting" strategies. Starbucks' official Weibo account also "revealed" the Double Eleven pre-sale and stockpiling rhythm in mid-October. As the big brother in the catering industry, Starbucks' activities this time involved everything from product launches to platform promotions.

In terms of products, during the Double Eleven period, Starbucks not only launched new products but also brought back popular old products. On November 2, Starbucks brought back the popular single product Toffee Hazelnut Latte, and also launched three new drinks in the same series, including Frappuccino. In addition, 8 new cups were also launched for the surrounding products.

Along with the new products, Star Members also launched a series of new product tasks. For example, if you consume 3 cups of new products within 5 days, you can get a free new product coupon.

Compared with the promotion of new products in the private domain, the public domain platform is more about low-price promotion around mature categories. In terms of platform activities, Starbucks covers the entire domain from online to offline.

Among them, e-commerce platforms focus on hoarding coupons at low prices. For example, on Tmall and Douyin, Starbucks has put on the shelves the "Ten-Time Coupons" that had been highly sought after for its return. The Tmall price of 10 super-large cup drink coupons is 240 yuan, and you can also participate in live broadcasts to get discounts.

On the food delivery platforms Ele.me and Meituan, they offer multiple cups discounts and delivery fee reductions. For example, in some cities, they offer 30% off for two cups of designated products, buy one get one free, and other discounts; Meituan offers free delivery for 20 yuan orders, while Ele.me offers free delivery.

It can be seen that for brands like Starbucks, which have relatively mature customer minds and stable private domain traffic, new product activities are mainly concentrated in the private domain, mobilizing the enthusiasm of old customers in the form of tasks; while in the public domain with wider traffic, large discounts and multiple coupons are used to drive consumption growth.

3. Santonban: Create a "new" stockpiling mentality and accelerate the penetration of lifestyle

If you are a coffee lover, you may have noticed that Double Eleven every year is the best time to stock up on "Santonban". Not only does this time offer the lowest prices of the year, the brand also provides special edition bulk packs to help you reduce the "difficulty of choice" when placing an order.

This year, Santonban launched the "Super Star" exclusively on the brand's official "Traveler's World" applet on Double 11. This mass-market package consists of 80 digital planets + limited peripherals + special benefits. From October 17 to 27, the early bird price is 449 yuan. The "Dun Points" rewards obtained by users will be automatically recorded in the applet 15 days after delivery.

In terms of products, the same-size bulk packs on Double 11 last year mainly used regular flavors of 12-34-56 segmented mixed packs, while this year it includes a new generation of Diamond Stardust™ coffee crystals. This new product is mainly derived from the upgrade of production technology, featuring faster and more complete dissolution, fuller cans and a mellower taste. It uses the latest season coffee beans and emphasizes clear flavor.

In addition to business arrangements, Santonban has also built a core user experience system through the "Return Plan" activity. The Return Plan is Santonban's long-term plan to recycle empty coffee cans. It has been carried out twice a year since its launch in 2019. Recently, Santonban adjusted the Return Plan from twice a year to daily operations. October 27-29 is the eighth season of the Return Plan, with a total of 248 return points participating, more than 42,000 users "successfully returned", and more than 8 million empty cans recycled.

Starting from this season, the return plan will be permanently located in the "Traveler's World" of the Sandunban mini program. Users can check their "energy account", search for the return point, check the return supplies and redeem them at any time in the mini program. Offline, starting from December this year, the 10th of each month will be the return day (except the Spring Festival month), and a one-day offline storage tank and more on-site activities will be carried out.

Daofa observed that Sandunban also launched cross-border joint brands to launch life experience activities, such as cooperating with "BROMPTON" to start theme city cycling, customizing cycling routes for everyone along the lakeside of Hangzhou, the seaside of Xiamen, and the ancient city of Xi'an, led by Xiaobu, and connecting more return points and coffee experiences in the process.

A person in charge of Santonban revealed that the core spirit of the return plan is "connection and circulation" . It can be foreseen that after this daily routine, the brand will pay more attention to the richness of offline activities, and will also launch new return supplies more frequently online, so as to keep in touch with users through more daily life interactions.

Overall, Santonban has always adhered to the stockpiling mentality of the Double Eleven promotion, and has continuously brought freshness to users by upgrading products and expanding interactive gameplay. This long-lasting sense of companionship is exactly what many impatient and aggressive brands lack today.

4. DERCOS: The celebrity endorsement strategy is mature and seizes the trend track

Every year on Double Eleven, there is a boom in the official announcement of celebrity endorsements. Recently, Xiaomi announced that Fei Xiang would become the co-creator of humanistic images, MAXAM announced that Alec Su would be its brand spokesperson, and Jinchen Tea announced that Wang Junkai would be its brand spokesperson.

In the month when consumers are most willing to shop and most thoughtful about shopping, it is important to maximize the traffic brought by celebrity spokespersons and convert it into sales. Therefore, it is very important to officially announce the supporting strategies of celebrity spokespersons.

In recent years, with the fragmentation of channels, the focus of brands has expanded from a few platforms to the entire region, with both online and offline layouts, hoping to better undertake and convert traffic.

Among the many attempts, the more mature and noteworthy one is the supporting full-area strategy of "Vichy DERCOS" after the official announcement of the spokesperson. On October 18, Vichy officially announced Li Xian as the brand spokesperson of Vichy DERCOS, launched the Vichy DERCOS anti-dandruff refreshing gift box, and promoted its star product Green Label Shampoo. As of October 31, Green Label Shampoo topped the soothing and anti-allergic track and achieved the first place in pre-sales.

In fact, in June 2021, Vichy announced that the brand would usher in a major transformation and focus on functional scalp care. It launched the DERCOS series for the first time in the Chinese market. The DERCOS series, which was founded in 1964 and has a 57-year history of scalp care research, hopes to seize the development opportunities of the functional scalp care track when the functional skin care market is booming. Within a year, the Vichy scientific team conducted 40 clinical and observational studies and published 21 papers in authoritative academic journals.

After receiving professional recognition in China, Vichy DERCOS began to focus on the mass consumer market this year. In the official TVC of Li Xian, Vichy DERCOS's brand positioning of focusing on scalp care was highlighted, and the green label shampoo contained active ingredients such as selenium disulfide and salicylic acid, which was beneficial to scalp health and could reduce the recurrence of dandruff with long-term use.

The day after the spokesperson was officially announced, Vichy DERCOS cooperated with People's Health, People's Livelihood Weekly, People's Cultural Heritage, and China.com Culture to launch the short film "The Past and Present of Chinese Hair Washing", which reviewed the changes in Chinese people's hair washing methods in different eras, presented the advanced path of hair care concepts, and invited Zhou Cheng, deputy chief physician of Peking University People's Hospital, to provide consumers with science popularization on hair washing and care.

Offline, Vichy DERCOS launched a flash event, cooperating with Watsons to launch hundreds of flash stores during the entire Double Eleven period from October 19th to November 15th, and simultaneously carrying out offline promotional activities in the form of buy 2 bottles and get 1 bottle free.

In addition, Vichy DERCOS invited KOLs from different circles to promote its products and communicated the specific effects of different products such as green label and pink label to target the pain points of different groups of people, including fitness people who sweat a lot during exercise, beauty people who frequently perm and dye their products, new mothers who suffer from postpartum hair loss and dandruff, and ingredient lovers who like to delve into ingredients.

Backed by the L'Oréal Group, which has rich resources and mature operating experience, Vichy DERCOS's starting strategy is worthy of being in the 1-10 stage, and is expected to be used as a reference for brands in the segmented trend track.

5. Bosideng: Keeping pace with the season and creating new trendy products of "jacket +"

In the Douyin Double 11 pre-sale this year, among the top 15 apparel and underwear categories, there are 6 down jacket brands, including YaYa, Yalu, Xuezhongfei, Gaofan, Luomeng, Bosideng, etc. Double 11 is the season change from autumn to winter. In order to seize the user's down jacket stocking mentality, various down jacket brands have made every effort to announce spokespersons and launch new potential hot products.

On October 27, Bosideng officially announced that Yang Zi would serve as the brand spokesperson, and the Bosideng goose down jacket was also launched at the same time. As the main new product promoted during this year's Double Eleven, Bosideng not only promoted the goose down jacket with "the same style as spokesperson Yang Zi", but also increased its investment in e-commerce channels. On October 31, the product was listed on the Tmall Jacket V List, Best Seller List, and Positive Reviews List.

If we look at the entire down jacket market, we will find that the combination of professional outdoor and down jackets, represented by jackets, has become the mainstream new product trend this year. In addition to Bosideng, YaYa also launched the "Ice Shell" series of jackets and down jackets, while Xue Zhongfei mainly promotes the ski series.

Interestingly, the brands that are rolling up jackets now are the same ones that rolled up sun protection jackets this summer. High-priced down jackets are questioned, and it is difficult to increase the premium of a single category . Down jacket brands are trying to find new growth points through category innovation and product line expansion. The jacket market has already been "planted by predecessors" such as Arc'teryx, and is moving from professional to mass. With the rapid growth of demand, it has naturally become a "hot commodity" in the eyes of brands.

However, the large number of players also means fierce competition. The more crowded the jacket market is, the more it tests the brand and product strength. If you just follow the trend and lack innovations that can truly meet user needs, the ending will probably be the same as countless other brands that have entered the sun protection clothing market, becoming lost in the crowd.

6. Bedemei & Honesty: Grasping both existing and incremental sales, stockpiling and attracting new customers

Children's shower gel, cat litter, dog food... One of the common points of maternal and child and pet products is that they are all daily consumer goods, and the mentality of stockpiling is very strong. This is why on Double Eleven, related brands have launched gift packages, stockpiling packages, show-off packages and other large-capacity and cost-effective purchasing options.

However, Double 11 has undoubtedly brought stronger and more consumption desire. If we only entertain old customers at this time, it will be a bit wasteful. We have observed that the top 1 maternal and child products and pet products in Douyin's Double 11 first day pre-sale list, "Beidemei" and "Honest Yikou", have worked hard to attract new customers.

The children's care brand "Bedemei" focuses on attracting new members. From shower gel, facial mask, laundry detergent to blankets, low-priced member trials are set up, and you can enjoy it as soon as you join the membership, and some can also get a 20-yuan repurchase coupon. The membership system is a daily focus for categories with low-to-medium customer unit prices and crucial repurchase rates. It can help retain old customers and improve brand loyalty. Double Eleven is a good opportunity to attract more people to join the membership.

"Honest Yikou" has set up rich and diverse taster packs to attract new customers and stimulate new needs of old customers. According to the price from low to high, it includes 9.9 yuan new product freeze-dried taster, 9.9 yuan cat food/dog food hot taster, 19.9 yuan dog/cat snack taster gift pack, 24.9 yuan staple food upgrade gift pack, 39.9 yuan cat/dog combination set, 49.9 yuan kitten exclusive gift pack. In general, there are cat-based, human-based, and brand-based new products, covering various scenarios and needs.

VII. Summary

Just like "a single leaf can tell the coming of autumn", how to conceive and promote new products depends on the brand's sensitivity to changes in the consumer environment and whether it can make timely adjustments to adapt to consumer trends.

For consumers, new products are no longer a simple purchasing behavior, but have become a consumption orientation, behind which is the pursuit of quality life; while for brands, new products are a symbol of product strength, brand power and vitality, and are the first impression that the industry and consumers have of recognizing and identifying with the brand.

Starting from the new products, we also wish all brands to achieve satisfactory results on Double Eleven!

Author: Knife Skills Content Team, Editor: Siete

Source: Knife Skills Research Institute (ID: DigipontClub).