Should you build your brand for the long term or sell products as soon as they go online? How should you launch new products for different operational purposes?

In the previous article, we analyzed Liana, FunnyElves Fangli and CHOUOHC, who were all in the expert application game; in this article, we will analyze the two brands, Chunke and Qiaoaiti, to see how they developed their brands from 0 to 1 in the current competitive environment.

In the previous issue, we shared some new promotion methods for brand 0-1 operation. We saw that there is still huge potential in the cosmetics and skincare categories, and new brands are still being created.

In fact, apart from cosmetics and skin care, more and more other categories, such as pets and underwear, have huge development potential. According to relevant data from iiMedia Research, the market size of pets and underwear is constantly expanding (as shown in the figure below):

Source: iiMedia Research

We selected two brands, Chunke and Qiaoaiti, which were established in 22 years in the pet category and underwear category respectively, to see how they developed their brands from 0 to 1 in the current competitive environment.

The entire analysis starts with the brand’s sales and then deduces the key influencing factors. We hope that through some objective data analysis, we can give more thinking directions to brands that want to enter the market for such purposes!

1. Pure Engraving

The brand mainly operates on two platforms, Xiaohongshu and Douyin . It started operating relatively late, in August 2023, Chunke only began to promote it, and its main product is cat food; the monthly sales on Taobao are about 2,000+; the sales on Douyin in the past 30 days are over 3,000.

1. Brand launch rhythm

August 22

The brand officially published its first note on Xiaohongshu using its corporate account.

September 22

Chunke posted 575 notes on Xiaohongshu that month. It mainly operated by investing traffic to commercial notes to create popular articles. The interaction volume of commercial notes accounted for 71.17% of the total interaction volume that month, and the remaining 80% of the notes were brought by amateurs.

We started promoting on TikTok, and that month the brand mainly relied on live streaming by influencers to sell products. The influencers chosen at this time were smaller in scale, but they were all pet influencers in the vertical category.

October 22

The number of notes written purely on Xiaohongshu has reached over 1,000, which is a combination of business and amateur notes. Amateur notes account for the majority of the interactions, while business notes contribute over 50% of the interactions.

Brands began to invite vertical influencers with large fan bases to promote their products on the Douyin platform, such as "Mini Cat Zhang Dudu" and "Thirteen Quickly Gets Fat". At this time, influencer broadcasts were still the main focus.

November 22 to present

The number of notes written purely on Xiaohongshu per month is roughly maintained at around 1,000. It still relies on commercial notes to drive interaction and expose products. For example, in February 2024, the interaction volume of commercial notes accounted for 70.47% of the total notes.

At the same time, the brand's own live broadcasting accounts on Douyin began to make efforts, gradually accounting for the majority of total sales, accounting for 70%-80%; in addition, the brand is also constantly increasing cooperation with pet bloggers, such as "Cheng Pu Pu", "Amy is a cat" and other pet vertical bloggers;

On February 17, 2023, the brand also invited "Dad Review" to test the product.

2. Xiaohongshu note content

From the perspective of the content of the notes, there are mainly four forms:

1) Plot video notes + product promotion: Use plot content to attract readers, mainly to increase note exposure, increase the number of readers, and find accurate users in multiple ranges;

This type of note is the most common pet note, accounting for about 60% of the top notes. It focuses on emotional factors and is promoted through daily records.

Source: Xiaohongshu platform

2) Comic plot videos, which account for about 5% of notes. Although the number of notes is small, the audience is very interested in them, the data is very good, and it is easier to produce popular notes;

Source: Xiaohongshu platform

3) Tutorials on raising cats: accurately reach users and attract cat owners with useful information. This type of note accounts for about 30%. Due to the high-quality content, it is also easier to produce popular notes.

4) Evaluation of product ingredients or comparison with other cat food collections; using real-life scenarios to attract audiences to buy, with the main goal of gaining audience trust.

Source: Xiaohongshu platform

For pet products, the target audience is mainly pets, but the buyers are pet owners. They cannot truly feel the effects of the products, so for them, whether the raw materials are safe and whether there are inducers are their biggest concerns;

On February 27, 2023, Daddy's Review conducted an evaluation on the brand and looked at its sales trend chart. Excluding the impact of the 38 promotion, the review did promote the growth of brand sales. (As shown in the figure below)

Source: Cicada Mom

3. Tik Tok live streaming

The brand first used the method of expert broadcasting, and then gradually changed to brand-owned broadcasting. The proportion of sales from brand-owned broadcasting increased from 20% to about 80%. Monthly sales also gradually increased from 2,500 yuan at the beginning to more than 100,000 yuan.

Source: TikTok platform

There are many cat food brands, such as Oh Oh, Honest Yikou, Xixi is Coming, etc. The content materials of their official accounts are mostly sliced ​​materials around the benefits of live broadcasts, or the following event discount content, all of which are mainly aimed at guiding stockpiling, conversion, and sales. There is relatively little content on brand value and brand concept.

The only difference is the Miaofansi brand, which tells the story behind the brand operating company, and indirectly expresses the brand's philosophy and feelings through the company's daily materials and the boss's explanation, so that users can feel that this is a reliable company and the products they make are reliable;

Chunke's content also tends to express its brand philosophy. Through videos of product testing and practical explanations, it tells everyone that it is a company that focuses on making products and that its products are safe and reliable.

4. Market environment

According to the top 10 cat food brands, 5 brands are concentrated in the price range of 21-30 yuan, and their sales account for 74% of the total sales of the top 10; the remaining brands are distributed in different price ranges; (as shown in the figure below)

However, if we look at the products in the 41-60 yuan range in the cat food market, there is indeed no leading brand. Therefore, the cat food market at 49.9 yuan/catties, which is promoted by Chunke, has great opportunities for expansion.

5. Product public opinion

The brand has a high rate of favorable comments, accounting for about 94%. Many users said that the product is of excellent quality and good palatability, and they can also see the traceability information, so they feel at ease;

The main reason for their negative reviews is that the products are too expensive. They believe that Douyin stores are more expensive than Taobao stores, and their prices are similar to those of imported grains, making them less cost-effective. (As shown in the figure below)

Source: TikTok platform

6. Conclusion

1. In the early stage of product promotion, it is necessary to understand the changing trends and existing gaps in the market. Pet products are now competing on price and ingredients. Chunke has jumped out of the existing competitive dimensions of the market, returned to the essence of the brand, communicated with users about products, and established trust.

2. Product pricing: Look for a price range where market competition is not so fierce, and use the advantages of the brand and product to consolidate your own selling price, so that users are willing to pay for it;

If a brand wants to enter the pet category, it can try to promote its products from an emotional perspective;

There are a lot of promotions for pet products now, but most of them are based on the two points of "how many ingredients are added" and "how cheap it is". There are fewer promotions about the emotional interaction between owners and cats. For example, our team will repurchase a product for cats - "Gulu Sauce". When the cat hears the sound of the Guru Sauce bottle cap being unscrewed, it will come to you and then feed you. This will increase the interaction and emotional cultivation between humans and pets.

2. Qiao Aiti

In August 2022, the brand began operating on the Douyin platform. Its products include four types: maternity yoga underwear, hip-lifting pants, thin underwear, and one-piece body shapers. The main purpose is to use different products to connect different age groups and sell products to multiple age groups.

1. Brand expansion rhythm

The development rhythm of Qiao Aiti can be divided into two stages:

The first stage: From August to November 2023, it was mainly based on brand self-broadcasting;

The second stage: From December 2023 to the present, some business experts and Taoyou Mall experts who specialize in live streaming have begun to sell this product through live streaming; however, the sales volume of these experts accounts for a small proportion, and they mainly rely on self-broadcasting.

It is speculated that the operating logic of this brand is to first rely on its own live broadcast room to expose and sell products; then when sales reach a certain level, increase the price of public commissions to attract some sales experts with a small number of fans to spontaneously engage in chain sales.

Source: Cicada Mom

2. Operation of the brand’s own broadcast room

The brand mainly has 5 self-broadcasting rooms, namely Qiaoaiti women's clothing flagship store, Qiaoaiti underwear flagship store, Qiaoaiti underwear direct sales, Qiaoaiti body shaping and beauty flagship store and 275353359076.

In the past 30 days, the brand mainly relied on the two self-broadcasting rooms, Qiao Aiti Women's Wear Flagship Store and Qiao Aiti Underwear Flagship Store, for sales, and their sales accounted for about 50% of the total sales;

In terms of audience, the brand's five live broadcast rooms have covered all audiences over 18 years old. For example, the audiences of maternity yoga underwear, one-piece body shapers, and thermal underwear are over 24 years old, while the audiences of light underwear are relatively young, concentrated in the two age groups of 18-23 and 23-30.

From the perspective of the live broadcast room, the traffic source of this brand's live broadcast room was mainly natural traffic at the beginning, with some paid traffic added; then as the brand developed, the proportion of paid traffic continued to increase. (As shown in the figure below).

Source: Cicada Mom

Moreover, most of Qiao Aiti’s live broadcast rooms rely on a buy-one-get-one-free approach for sales, selling in large quantities at low prices; different products cover different price ranges, connecting multiple groups of people.

2. Douyin Store

The brand has opened three Douyin stores on Douyin, including Ten Select, Qiao Aiti Body Shaping and Beauty Flagship Store, and Qiao Aiti Women's Wear Flagship Store;

Source: Cicada Mom

Let’s look at these three Douyin stores. Since the products are originally sold at low prices and in large quantities, the cost of the products may be relatively low, the quality may not be guaranteed, and the rate of negative reviews may be relatively high; (as shown in the figure below)

The brand may have considered the possible risks when planning its products, and therefore created multiple Douyin stores to prevent risks.

Source: TikTok platform

3. Conclusion

1. The core of the brand is selling goods. Through the matrix account, similar products and different prices can be connected to different user groups to maximize sales;

2. If you want to sell a large amount of goods, you need to plan ahead and stock up on what products to target what groups of people; and you must have a clear understanding of your products, try to make all advance plans, and improve the stability of your sales cycle.

If a brand wants to learn how to build a matrix account, it can learn from Qiaoaiti!

Conclusion

When you first create a brand, you need to think clearly about the purpose of your brand. Do you want to create a brand that can actually help some users solve their pain points and have long-term value, or do you just want to create a product with a trademark that can be quickly marketed and sold?

These are two completely different operational ideas; the cases in this issue are the differentiated operational ideas for these two different purposes;

Chunke starts from the perspective of branding, starting from brand image and product quality, hoping to become a long-term and valuable brand;

Qiao Aiti’s logic is purely about selling goods, using multiple matrix accounts and price advantages to maximize sales.