Research on the Marketing Strategy of Domestic Beauty Brands —Taking Florasis as an Example

: In recent years, with the continuous development of the Internet, people have received more information among them. The market for domestic cosmetics is becoming larger and larger in this era, even setting off a "national tide fever," and its competition is also very fierce. Florasis has successfully occupied a leading position in the domestic cosmetics industry by virtue of its novel concept of "Oriental color makeup, flower-based makeup." This paper takes Florasis as the research object, analyzes its advantages and problems in marketing, and provides reference and avoidance for other domestic cosmetics.


Introduction
With the rapid development of China's economy and technology, the sales of cosmetics are also growing rapidly. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the retail sales of cosmetics in China from January to December 2021 will be 402.6 billion yuan, up 18.4% year on year. Among them, there was a peak during the "Double 11" period. During the event, the total sales of cosmetics across the platform was 109.4 billion yuan, the sales of beauty and skin care products was 54.7 billion yuan, up 35.5% year on year; the sales of skin care products was 54.7 billion yuan, up 37. 6% year on year; the sales of color cosmetics products was 15.5 billion yuan, up 33. 4% year on year; a total of 109.4 billion yuan [1].
However, it is international brands that occupy the largest share in the cosmetics market. According to the data of the Chinese cosmetics market, from the perspective of the top 20 cosmetics companies, foreign cosmetics companies account for 80%, while local cosmetics companies only account for 20% [1]. Compared with the domestic brands that developed late, foreign brands have a more stable reputation, product quality, and distribution channels. High-end cosmetics are almost monopolized by international brands; for example, French Guerlain, Mystery of Sea Blue, and other international "lady" brands (referring to brands with high prices and amazing effects) [2].
On the other hand, with the arrival of the Z era, this market distribution has some opportunities for transformation. The Z era refers to the youth group from 1995 to 2010. Influenced by the Internet, they have high local awareness and cultural confidence, advocate liberalism and egoism, and are keen to pay for "high-face value" products. At the same time, they have a high purchasing power, which makes this group gradually get rid of international brands and buy domestic brands [3]. Florasis has seized this opportunity to give priority to the concept of "oriental cosmetics, and make cosmetics with flowers", and positioned itself as a Chinese brand with Chinese national characteristics and culture. It has quickly occupied a leading position in the domestic cosmetics brand market, catching up with and surpassing many domestic cosmetics brands. Taking Florasis as an example, this paper uses the horizontal comparison of marketing strategies to analyze the means that domestic cosmetics can use and learn from in the new media and Z era, as well as the corresponding drawbacks that need to be avoided, so as to provide a reference for the future development of domestic cosmetics brands.

Advantages of Florasis' Brand Marketing Strategy
Florasis didn't develop for long. It was born in Hangzhou, China, on March 8, 2017. In August of the same year, the brand entered the TianMao platform and opened Florasis flagship store. Actively use the dividends of e-commerce channels to promote the brand, adhere to the exploration of China's millennium ancient beauty wisdom, and aim to create cosmetics products suitable for Oriental women [4]. According to the data disclosed by the brand, the total number of R&D related teams in 2021 has been more than 200, and 11 joint flower research bases have been established for research and development of various plant ingredients. In the year of "618" in 2020, Florasis achieved more than 190 million sales, surpassing another domestic cosmetics brand giant, "Perfect Diary", and ranking first in the category of cosmetics; In 2021, Florasis' monthly sales growth rate will reach 89.83%, ranking first in domestic cosmetics [3]. Successfully occupied the position of "the first brand of domestic beauty products".

Strengthen Brand Image, Create High Appearance Products
A very obvious feature of the Z era is that they have strong cultural confidence, so Florasis pioneered the "national style" series of cosmetics, and also used various national style elements such as "micro sculpture" in product packaging design, which has Chinese characteristics [4]. For example, inspired by the "Ten Sceneries of the West Lake", the beauty of the West Lake in Hangzhou is integrated into the package, and the "West Lake imprint custom gift box" is launched; Integrate Miao elements and technology into the design, and launch "Miao Impression High Ding Series Products" such as " Florasis Lipstick "; The eye shadow plate of "Hundred Birds Chase the Phoenix" uses the traditional Chinese art of "relief", carving the elements of screen and phoenix on the eye shadow plate, which is very attractive. In addition, Floasis is well aware of the consumption concept that people in the Z era are more willing to pay for products with high appearance value. At folk festivals, Floasis has introduced a limited gift box with exquisite packaging to increase the attribute of products with high appearance value, and consumers are willing to pay for it. With its unique national style, elegant tone, and high-end appearance, Floasis has won first place among domestic brands and the attention of consumers.

Use Sales Channels to Create High Reputation Products
E-commerce platforms have developed rapidly in China, and there is a growing trend [5]; More and more people choose online shopping, because it can save the cost of taking a taxi without having to go to the mall to choose in person; The categories are also much richer than those of offline shopping malls, so that consumers can compare more and choose products that are more suitable for them. Florasis took advantage of this opportunity to promote it through the live broadcast of KOL (Key Opinion Leader) anchor and social communication channels such as microblog and Xiaohongshu [3], and launched activities such as "forwarding + drawing full and reduced quota by clicking on likes" [6]. As early as August 2017, Florasis had opened " Florasis flagship stores" in TianMao, Taobao and other sales platforms. At the same time, we will carry out multi-dimensional matrix marketing promotion on these platforms, turn a product into a "blockbuster product", and then put this product into the live broadcast of the head anchor for sales. Under the marketing strategy of "blockbuster system", Florasis not only created a number of "flagship products", but also radiated these blockbuster products to the whole brand, which made the brand " Florasis " famous, accumulated a lot of good reputation, and then stood firm among domestic cosmetics brands.

Cross Border Cooperation, Linkage to Build Circle Products
In the new media era, in order to increase the topic and popularity of the brand, Florasis has chosen to carry out cross-border cooperation with some of the same national style IP (Intellectual property), launch co branded products to surprise consumers, and use the brand's synergistic communication effect to help Florasis out of the circle. Huaxizi has effectively realized cross circle cooperation by using these national style pan IP, attracting many potential consumers from other circles. For example, Florasis has jointly launched a joint brand of Hanfu (Han Chinese Clothing) with the Sanzemeng Hanfu brand, which will shine brightly at New York Fashion Week in autumn and winter 2020, bringing the oriental culture to the international stage, displaying the unique colors of the East, and increasing many topics and exposure; Jointly launched gift boxes such as "Peach Blossom Drunk" with Luzhou Laojiao, creating the first cross-border co branding of cosmetics brands and Baijiu brands [4]. At the same time of achieving cultural integration, it further stimulated the cultural self-confidence of consumers' psychology, and improved the brand awareness and product sales.

Problems and Challenges of Florasis Brand
As mentioned above, Florasis uses these three aspects to expand its brand effect and brand popularity, but at the same time, in view of these three points, it also needs to avoid some disadvantages listed below.

Cannot Have Both practicality and Characteristics
Florasis has implemented the concept of "Oriental color makeup, flower based makeup", and created many products with Chinese traditional characteristics. However, the quality and practicality of these products are not as high as their face value. The excessively gorgeous appearance makes some products inconvenient to carry in daily life. The colors with high saturation of eye shadow plate do not seem to be used so well, and are not suitable for daily makeup. Not only that, more and more people are voicing on the Internet about the quality of Florasis products. The materials used for the products are too rough, and many kinds of skin are allergic. Moreover, the price of these products is not cheap, which makes some consumers, such as those students who do not have a fixed salary, shy away. In order to precipitate the image and reputation of the brand, make the products have both national characteristics and practicality, and at the same time, try to lower the product price as much as possible. Making products that are friendly to the people is also a challenge that Florasis needs to face.

Too Single Sales Channel
In recent years, many domestic cosmetics brands have paid more attention to online sales and ignored offline physical store sales. In fact, with the development of offline channels such as "cloud stores" and self-service supermarkets, offline shopping has witnessed a new development, which should not be underestimated. The data shows that many international brands have exploited this loophole, and offline physical stores have achieved a large number of sales. As Florasis defines itself as an online beauty brand, it relies too much on online live broadcast marketing for Internet sales and has not yet achieved full line marketing and sales. Although many advertisements have been posted in many offline stores, there is no same number of physical stores for consumers who go to shopping malls. With the rise of Internet sales costs and the disappearance of school sales dividends, how to balance the offline and online sales channels in the next development path, so that consumers can continue to feel the charm of "Oriental Beauty" is a question for brands to consider.

Over-Marketing, Losing Credibility
The use of new media and other media can achieve the goal of rapid brand promotion, and can bring huge traffic to the brand in a short time. However, if the promotion is excessive, consumers will have distrust of the promoted product. They will think that the people who recommend the product are paid to talk big and not worthy of trust, which makes the shortcomings of these products infinitely amplified and counterproductive [4]. Some consumers do not want to drift with the tide. They are more willing to find domestic brands that are small and easy to use. Instead, Florasis has lost these consumers. According to the data, from March to April 2020, the sales of Florasis Rouge powder blusher Cream were relatively stable, but from April 5, the sales began to decline significantly. At the same time, the sales volume of Tik Tok with goods decreased by 21.6% to a large extent. Since then, the sales volume has gradually declined. The promotion and marketing should be properly carried out under the new media communication software to make consumers think that they have discovered these highly practical products and that the domestic cosmetics brands are worth making efforts later.

Conclusion
The development of new media and the arrival of the Z era have brought infinite opportunities and development space to the domestic cosmetics industry. More and more domestic cosmetics brands are known, and domestic cosmetics are gradually getting rid of the labels "A" and "poor quality." Florasis was fortunate to seize the opportunity to strengthen her brand image through various social and communication platforms, implement the concept of "Oriental Makeup," and use online ecommerce live broadcast platforms for marketing, resulting in very high sales; collaborate with wellknown Chinese-style IP in other circles to improve brand exposure and topic, as well as tap potential consumers in other circles. However, Florasis also has some problems, such as excessive marketing, products can not be both beautiful and practical, and sales channels are too single. To achieve longterm and stable development, we must avoid these problems. This article only focuses on the competition of domestic cosmetics and does not involve international brands. In the future, it can be compared with foreign well-known brands in many aspects to show more advantages and disadvantages of domestic cosmetics brands.