With sales of 5 million overnight and an increase of over 4 million followers, it took on the heat of the "business war", but is the challenge just beginning?

As the incident of a head anchor fermented, the heat of the "domestic product war" lasted for nearly a week, but when the heat faded, how should the old domestic products develop? This is a direction worth thinking about.

The "Chinese goods business war" has been hot for nearly a week, with traffic flowing back and forth between the live broadcast rooms of various old Chinese goods, and each of them has reaped great rewards. Fenghua, which started this "business war", is even more interesting. It is very happy to "pick up fans". After selling out, it does not forget to promote other old Chinese goods to keep the traffic hot.

But no one expected that the biggest winner was actually Vitality 28, which was once caught in the whirlpool of public opinion in the first half of this year. While other domestic brands were busy trying to catch the wave of popularity of the "domestic product war", Vitality 28 did not deliberately do anything, but unexpectedly sold more than 5 million in one night, demonstrating what it means to have overwhelming wealth and fame, and it was a bit unexpected.

In fact, it is precisely because Vitality 28 does not deliberately do anything, but is very real and practical, that it has become a breath of fresh air in this wave of popularity. At the same time, this so-called "domestic product business war" is also worthy of rethinking by old domestic brands, thinking about how to survive in a rapidly changing market environment and thinking about the future direction.

1. The brand that worries netizens the most becomes the biggest winner in the “business war”

Originally, the heat of the "domestic products business war" was mainly concentrated on Fenghua, so why did it shift to Huoli 28?

Due to a chain reaction caused by someone saying that Huaxizi's 79-yuan eyebrow pencil was expensive in Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room, Fenghua was the first to respond. The 79-yuan product package was launched online, which triggered a wave of interaction among netizens. Then the popularity increased, the sales in the live broadcast room increased greatly, and the related products were sold out. Driven by it, many other domestic brands also joined in, such as Lianhua MSG, Hongxing Erke, etc., and also launched a 79-yuan promotion, seizing the point that Huaxizi's product weight is more expensive than the price of gold, and grabbed the favor of consumers. The old domestic products are good quality, cheap, cost-effective, and conscientious... For a time, they became the key points that consumers are enthusiastic about.

How did Vitality 28 become so popular? On the evening of September 13, the phrase "I was touched by netizens in Vitality 28's live broadcast room" topped the hot topic list on the Douyin platform. On the 14th, #活力28 忧心的网友# also topped the Weibo hot search list, rising to the 11th place and staying on the list for 7.5 hours.

Here's what happened. On September 13, the "Vigor 28 Clothing Cleaning Flagship Store" officially launched its first live streaming sales on the Douyin platform.

Unlike the female anchors or male and female duos in general brand live broadcast rooms, this live broadcast room of Vitality 28 was set up in the workshop of Vitality 28 Chengdu factory. There was no gorgeous background board, no assistants, no slogans, and no countdown of "321 link up". The anchors in front of the camera were not the young men and women dressed brightly in general live broadcast rooms, but three middle-aged uncles dressed simply, namely the workshop director, production supervisor and warehouse supervisor, who had no experience in live broadcasting.

After a live broadcast, several "old" anchors really crossed the river by feeling the stones. They learned the live broadcast rules while selling goods. They were blocked by the platform several times because they were not clear about the live broadcast language rules. In the end, they could only raise signs to the camera to signal netizens. But even so, they still attracted more than 100,000 users to the live broadcast room.

Enthusiastic netizens also tried their best to assist in the live broadcast room, acting as both consumers and broadcast assistants. The products were soon sold out, and netizens began to swipe the screen in the live broadcast room to guide the listing of new products; tens of thousands of people collectively swiped the screen to remind the user to turn off the "late delivery means compensation" policy. When swiping the screen could not solve the problem, some people even found the contact information of the live broadcast room and called directly to provide guidance.

With no live broadcast experience, little interaction skills, and no idea of ​​how to talk about products, they just learn and sell on the spot. That's how the popularity of the live broadcast room of Vitality 28 has grown from a dozen people during the trial broadcast to tens of thousands of people online now. The most critical thing is that the netizens who flocked into the live broadcast room have shown great tolerance, understanding and support for the uncle anchors, which will become the biggest motivation for Vitality 28 to continue to sell products through live broadcasts. How can we not be moved?

This wave of popularity directly increased the number of followers of the live broadcast account by more than 4 million in just a few days, and the total number of fans has exceeded 5 million. Several anchors have gradually found the feeling of selling goods through live broadcast, and they don’t feel so embarrassed to call "fan baby" in the live broadcast room.

Now, the factory's daily production capacity is maintained at more than 500 tons, operating at high load. Before the live broadcast room became popular, the factory's daily production capacity was around 10 to 30 to 40 tons. The person in charge of the factory once cried during a media interview, because he was moved by netizens and had deep feelings for Vitality 28. They want to keep this brand alive, just like the homepage of the Douyin account says, "If you can't stay at the peak, then go back to the way you came."

The huge fortune has indeed been received, but the Vitality 28 brand still has many challenges to face if it wants to survive.

2. The former top domestic brand has rekindled its hope for life

These old domestic brands are so supported by netizens, of course, because of their low prices, but a very important reason is that with the continuous changes in the market competition environment, foreign brands and a large number of new brands have continued to emerge, making the brand voice and attention of these old domestic brands increasingly weaker over a long period of time, causing the overall performance of these brands to become less outstanding, and some brands have even really fallen into survival difficulties. Consumers have feelings for these old domestic brands, so when they see these brands that exist in their memories again after a long time and their survival space is getting smaller and smaller, they will naturally choose to support them through purchasing behavior.

Vitality 28 was founded in 1950 and was born in Shashi, Hubei. It was also a top brand in China's household cleaning market at that time.

How glorious was Vitality 28 back then? It was the first laundry detergent company to advertise on CCTV. The slogan "Vitality 28, Shashi Daily Chemicals" spread all over China. In 1982, it took the lead in launching ultra-concentrated foam-free laundry detergent suitable for machine washing. It was also the first mainland daily chemical company to advertise in Hong Kong. It was the first daily chemical company to sponsor CCTV's Spring Festival Gala. It was the first national top 500 daily chemical company, and it once occupied more than 60% of the national laundry market. It entered the A-share market in 1996...

In its development history, it has also experienced ups and downs.

From 1996 to 2016, it was acquired by foreign capital, hidden, and changed hands three times. This is what many domestic brands have experienced after foreign brands entered the market. It was not until 2019 that Vitality 28 regained its momentum. Li Jianfei, who had worked at Procter & Gamble and Reckitt Benckiser, became the company's CEO. Vitality 28 has successively received investments totaling more than 2 billion yuan from Challenger Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, and Taikang Life Insurance. Vitality 28, which received financing, lived up to expectations. Its revenue scale increased from 100 million yuan in 2019 to 500 million yuan in 2020, and reached 2 billion yuan in 2021, breaking into the first echelon of domestic household cleaning brands. Vitality 28 has actually entered the live broadcast room of the anchor who brings goods. In a live broadcast of a national trend brand in May 2020, 300,000 items of Vitality 28 were sold out in 30 seconds after they were put on the shelves.

However, after the highlight, Vitality 28 encountered problems. In the first half of 2023, the parent company of Vitality 28 was exposed to poor operating conditions, including arrears of payments to dealers and employee wages. This old domestic brand fell into trouble.

Apart from the financial problems caused by some issues in the operation and management of Vitality 28's parent company, the main reason is that in the past decade or so, daily chemical products have been rapidly iterating and alternating, differentiated innovative products have continued to emerge, and new brands have emerged in endlessly. The emergence of various new channels has greatly increased the sales of household cleaning products. At the same time, it has also significantly lowered the retail prices of many products and gradually evolved into a situation of competing on price and volume, which has dealt a huge blow to the Vitality 28 brand.

The live broadcast room that is now going viral is the OEM of Vitality 28, which has obtained the production and sales authorization from the Vitality 28 brand. That is why it has become popular in the Douyin live broadcast room, giving Vitality 28, once a top brand in the Chinese market, new hope of life overnight. This is a new beginning, and it is more like another two-way rush between the old domestic brand and consumers.

3. Opportunities belong to those who are prepared. Vitality 28 should be prepared to meet new challenges.

It has to be said that this massive "domestic product business war" that has spread to all fields is a very successful marketing campaign. The old traditional domestic brands that have always been considered by the market to lack network sense and are not good at using the power of the Internet have proved to the market that they are actually not old at heart.

In general, this large-scale marketing campaign has the following characteristics:

First, the reaction speed is fast. Huaxizi's 79 yuan eyebrow pencil and Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room crashed. The word "expensive" successfully aroused public emotions. 79 became the first explosive point, which was immediately seized by Fenghua and ignited. The simple arithmetic problem of how much you can buy from old domestic brands with 79 yuan has become the main theme of this "domestic product business war". At the same time, it also captured the minds of most consumers that old domestic brands are good quality, cheap, and cost-effective.

Almost all domestic brands that joined this "business war" showed a strong response speed, which also directly reflects the fierce competition in the domestic market. Being able to quickly and accurately capture hot traffic has become a necessary survival ability. This "business war" is the best example. Following Fenghua, domestic brands that joined the action to take advantage of the situation are spread across many sub-sectors such as cleaning, washing, shoes and clothing, food, and personal care. Hongxing Erke, Yumeijing, Lotus MSG, White Elephant, Mixue Ice City, and Huili are all household names in domestic brands. Some of these brands are even selling goods live for the first time. Business owners have personally appeared on the screen to support their own brand's live debut.

Second, the linkage between brands has pushed the heat wave to a higher peak, which is the biggest highlight of this "domestic product business war". Whether in the interactive area in the live broadcast room or in the short video comment area of ​​the brand account, we can see that major brands are actively bubbling, interacting and communicating with each other, teasing each other, helping each other, and diverting traffic to each other, so that this wave of heat will last longer and have stronger potential energy, and also make traffic truly become traffic, flowing in the live broadcast rooms of major brands. For example, after the Fenghua live broadcast room is sold out, it will recommend other brands' live broadcast rooms to consumers, and even directly put various other brands' products in front of the camera. Similarly, other brands are doing the same. In a live broadcast of Hongxing Erke, the anchor even washed his hair directly with Fenghua products in the live broadcast room, and used his own shoes instead of washing his hair by hand.

The interaction between different brands became a kind of live broadcast content, which made fans feel very excited and funny. In the end, almost all the brands involved gained something, and a win-win situation was truly achieved.

Therefore, this "Chinese Goods Business War" also provides domestic brands with a real idea of ​​traffic thinking and user thinking. In recent years, with the decline of traffic dividends, the construction of private domain traffic has become a topic that must be mentioned in brand building. However, for these traditional domestic brands, they do not have Internet genes. To build their own traffic pool, in addition to relying on the long-standing brand influence and consumer sentiment, they must also consider how to obtain fresh traffic from larger public domain traffic. The linkage between brands in this "Chinese Goods Business War" is a good way to build traffic together. It can not only realize traffic sharing, but also create topic heat and activate new traffic.

Vitality 28 has the opportunity to regain market attention in this heat wave, and has also found a new direction for the brand to survive. But this is just the beginning. Live streaming is also a way to sell goods, but the popularity of leveraging marketing will not always exist, and such opportunities will not always be there. When the heat fades, Vitality 28 will continue to face fierce market competition and cruel survival rules. It will continue to think about what to do next and find a path for brand survival and sustainable development.

However, there are always market opportunities, but as long as you can provide value to consumers and master the right marketing methods, you will have the opportunity to stand out again. The same is true for Vitality 28. China's cleaning market is very mature, but its scale is also expanding. According to a research report, in 2020, the market size of China's laundry category was 78.5 billion yuan, and the market size in 2021 exceeded 80 billion yuan. Analysts predict that the market size will reach 98.2 billion yuan in 2024.

In the fiercely competitive environment, after solving the problem of survival, the Vitality 28 brand will need to continue to invest more in research and development and innovation to build a differentiated competitive advantage for the brand, so as to gain a larger and more sustainable development space and allow the brand to truly continue.

Author: lyy

WeChat public account: New Consumption Think Tank (ID: cychuangye)