Category: Interview

Ms. Liu Qianfei, Founder & CEO of Zhuben

MC Fifi: Please introduce Zhuben to us. What are your main sales channels?

Zhuben is a newly emerged online brand. We are a start-up company with a very hard-working team. In the first year after our first product was officially launched, we achieved RMB 100 million in online sales with a team of 20 people, and we managed to sell RMB 1 billion this year.

MC Fifi: I heard that all your products were sold out during the last Double 11. Could you share more details?

That’s true. Our products were sold out of stock during the last Double 11 sales festival. All of the 1.2 million product units were sold out in one hour on the first day of Double 11 on October 20, and we rushed to transfer the goods from other places, but still couldn’t meet the overwhelming demand for over 1.5 million products. During the entire period of the Double 11, our online sales were RMB 280 million.

MC Fifi: Why do you shift to offline when you’re doing such an amazing work online?

In fact, my initial inspiration for establishing Zhuben came from the offline scene – the extreme sense of experience and craftsmanship I enjoyed from the spa world. The delicate lifestyles that spa people have created with all their hearts have deeply moved me.

So at that time, I already had the desire to bring an Oriental healing lifestyle to all women, without causing any financial burden to them. But it was not easy. It took me five years to do in-house research and development, trace the global supply chain sources, and cut out all middlemen, which made it possible for young women to enjoy high quality aromatherapy products at a price of around 100 to 200 yuan. However, I realized the limitations of doing online business alone. I want to deliver the concept of Oriental healing, pass on the philosophy of Oriental aesthetics and bring this lifestyle to young people, and in order to fulfill this, it’s impossible to stay just online.

So, last year, I spent over RMB 3 million on launching a small art exhibition and then I found that it was really different to do it offline. Many of my clients said to me, “I have been working with you for so many years and haven’t really understood what the Oriental healing you have been talking about until today.” Before that, they didn’t exactly know what healing was or what Oriental healing was. This trial enhances my determination to shift to the offline.

I plan to use about one year’s time to explore. I will select up to 3-5 hotels or spas that are in line with the Oriental healing philosophy to collaborate with. In these collaborations, we will make full use of our supply chain resources of essential oils with Oriental characteristics, our ability of integrated marketing, and our capability to provide various types of differentiated and customized services free of charge to see how we can better meet the needs of offline consumers and do some further innovations.

At the moment, I don’t actually know what offline consumers truly need, as I am not yet so familiar with the spa industry. But I am willing to share all our supply chain resources and marketing resources for free, and I am also willing to provide services in a customized and differentiated way, purely as an experimental exploration. My capacity is limited and I may only be able to serve a couple of hotels or spas in a year’s time. But I want to try and see how we can go offline and get our ideas across.

MC Fifi: The online and the offline teams are actually two completely different teams. Did your current online team feel challenged when they started doing offline business? Have you thought of any ways to solve the problem?

On the one hand, we’re now rolling out the traditional offline retail channel, with the plan to open over 10,000 outlets by the Chinese New Year 2022. But that’s not a major part of our strategy. I mainly want to spend a year’s time approaching and understanding clients who are interested in Oriental healing, whether they are groups, hotels or spas. I want to know what kind of solutions they are seeking, what kind of new value they need, and based on that insight, I’ll decide how I’m going to deliver the services. I can recruit people, and I can set up a specialized team to serve the industry. My intention is not to make a profit from it, but it’s something I have to do.

MC Fifi: You say that you want to work with hotel spas. Hotel spas surely have their advantages in terms of brand awareness. But, the disadvantage is that you may not be able to receive a large volume of customers. Maybe you can also consider some quality day spas?

That’s right. After we establish partnership with offline spas, our online traffic can be converted to the offline scenes, and at the same time the offline business can provide better services for customers to complement the online business. In this way, we can truly connect the online with offline, rather than just having our products shown in a few hotel spas as an image promotion. Because if the products don’t sell well, the hotel spas will choose another brand. Now that we have huge online traffic, we can channel the online traffic to our offline spa partners, and this is our strength.

MC Fifi: We know that online and offline product lines are different. For online business, you may just need to have 1-2 star products and then you can gain the traffic and make good sales. But in terms of offline business, consumers will demand very comprehensive ranges of products. Do you feel any challenges or have any future plans for this?

There is surely a difference between doing online and offline business. Since Zhuben has been mainly doing online business since its foundation, many people may think that Zhuben only develops basic products like make-up remover and facial serum. But that’s not really the case. First of all, I would like to talk about our supply chain capabilities. It’s generally difficult for aromatherapy brands to deliver very high-tech facial treatments. However, we have spent five years integrating all the active ingredients, bio-technology, plant stem cells, and 3D skin models and so on used by the global top brands. We can customize all of these for you, regardless of the size of the minimum order. The other unique aspect for us is our Oriental healing concept. Traditionally, it is the essential oil brands from abroad that dominate the market. So we have spent a few years studying how to transform Chinese prescriptions, with more than 4,000 herbs and plants, into essential oils with Chinese characteristics. In addition, we have also done a lot in terms of school-enterprise cooperation.

An interview with Mr. Pierre Feng,
Vice President of Eastern Natural Beauty China

China’s beauty salons and spas have experienced great development in recent years, with the emergence of new consumer groups, new consumer demands and new operational models. Eastern Natural Beauty, a well-established beauty salon brand with 50 years of history, has been constantly upgrading its business models and customer experience by studying the need and trends of the market.

Pierre Feng, Vice President of Eastern Natural Beauty, graduated from Sorbonne Université Paris, majoring in 17th Century French literature, and obtained double master’s degrees in International Communications and Finance from the ESC business school. After 10 years in France, he returned to China to join the SPA and wellness industry and has been extensively involved in many fields such as branding, product, operation and marketing. In 2019, he joined the Taiwan Eastern Group, advocating healthy and organic skin care with the brand’s beauty philosophy of “Natural is Beauty” to encourage Chinese women to regain their self-confidence. SpaChina interviewed Pierre. He will share with us his insights on the new operation models and development directions that China’s beauty salons and spas should be aware of.

What are the traditional marketing methods for beauty salons and spas? What are the advantages and disadvantages of these marketing methods?

Traditionally, beauty salons and spas tend to bind the guests with different strategies such as: drawing guests to try the treatments with a low price offer; persuading guests to buy cards with alluring discounts; offering discounts for part of the treatments; offering free experience chances and more. These traditional marketing methods are adopted with the aim to grab more guests from the market pool and make them stay with various forms of discounts.

It’s a common practice for beauty salons and spas to attract guests as many as possible from the market through both online and offline advertisements and promotions. In addition, they are also concerned about the “radiation radius” of their spa or salon, namely the impact of their geographic location on their marketing. In a broad sense, the traditional marketing methods are quite effective to collect customer information. However, from a professional point of view, there is a lack of value differentiation and customer positioning. The “cast net widely” approach will certainly reap a quite mixed customer base. If you fail to make the customer differentiation in the first place, you will suffer a loss of customers in the sales process due to a lack of value assessment of the customers, or at least you will be unable to maximize the cost-efficiency ratio in your business.

From a market expert’s point of view, what is new in the Chinese market regarding the way beauty and wellness brands do their marketing in the last few years?

In recent years, people’s health awareness increases a lot. In the post pandemic era, in particular, health care has become the biggest “social demand”. As a result, beauty salons and spas begin to turn to “human care marketing”. This also means a turn to a more rational business operation. The time when the salons randomly priced their offerings have gone. The quality of the product, the service procedures, the comfort of the treatments and the effects of the device programs are all what customers concerned about.

Therefore, an internet-based O2O operation system has been gradually built, which often includes an appointment system, customers’ skin condition profile, customers’ health test data etc. Meanwhile, with the rapid development of internet, it becomes much easier for customers to get information of the beauty salons too. Their consumption also become more rational. So the marketing approaches of spas and salons should be more rational.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of salons and spas with high brand recognition after years of operation?

Take Eastern Natural Beauty for example. As a traditional beauty salon brand with high recognition among the customers, we have 50 years of operation experience. We possess a solid customer base mainly composed of the post-60s and post-70s group. This is our unique advantage. However, while we focus our services around this group of middle-aged customers, we inevitably neglect the needs of the Gen Z.

For instance, we launched a new collagen firming line in 2021 which features technical improvements and formula innovation. However, it is still more preferred by the middle-aged customers and fails to give the younger generation a direct appeal in terms of the products’ texture, fragrance, feel on the skin and effects. I should say this is the weakness of us.

What do you think of the engagement of beauty salons and spas in e-commerce brand operations?

To be engaged in the e-commerce operation, beauty salons and spas need to make full use of their customer base for strong upgrades and renewals, and can even seize the chance to create their own e-commerce brands to gain the favor of younger consumers.

However, the creation of a new e-commerce brand requires packaging design and marketing methods to be more trendy and chic. You don’t just sell new products online, but you need to do cross-border cooperation and possess professional quality endorsement. Only through this way can you gain an active market response and empower the brand with true product power among young consumers.

In fact, the cost of creating an e-commerce brand is very high and you really need to do a lot of things. It also requires a huge money and capital support.  So not every ordinary beauty salon and spa can do it.  Also, concerning the online operations, the traditional operation team of beauty salons and spas just don’t have the capability to tackle it. So for ordinary beauty salons and spas that want to get involved in e-commerce, my suggestion is: think twice before you act.

What forms of cross-border cooperation and resource sharing would you recommend to beauty salons and spas?

Cross-border cooperation is not only needed when it comes to product development and get brand endorsement, but also a good way to improve your customer resources. In 2021, Natural Beauty cooperated with CreditEase, a well-known wealth management expert in China. CreditEase put Natural Beauty’s products in their APP platform where users can buy the products with certain points they have earned with the CreditEase. This is actually not only a product sales behavior, but in a deeper sense, an exchange of customer resources. CreditEase has a group of high net worth customers, who are also our target group as a high-end beauty salon. 

In the process of cross-border cooperation and resource sharing, what are the aspects to pay attention to in order to truly achieve a win-win situation rather than a futile trail or waste of time and energy?

In the process of realizing resource sharing through cross-border cooperation, we need to pay attention to: 1. whether the customer groups of each party share similar values and have a close connection; 2. whether the form of cooperation is smooth and creative; 3. whether the resource exchange is arranged systematically rather than randomly. I believe that by paying attention to the three aspects above, the resource sharing will maximize the benefits of both parties and lead to a win-win situation.

What kind of changes do you see taking place to beauty salons and spas in the next 5 years?

I think beauty salons will adapt to the new market demands to achieve true upgrades and transformations in the next 5 years. The slow-paced and complicated beauty programs can no longer meet the demands of the Gen Z. They care about the efficiency of the services and the immediate beauty effects. Their higher requirements to beauty brings the biggest challenge to traditional beauty salons. In order to quickly cater to the preferences of the younger consumers, beauty salons need to find a way to completely upgrade their offerings and constantly introduce new skincare programs to young people. They need to target the group of 20-25 years old customers, explore the consumption market of the younger generation, and turn to online platforms to output the brand content.

At the same time, beauty salons should be able to create a “trendy, fast and transparent” consumption scene to meet the beauty needs of the post-90s and post-00s customers. The upgrade toward fast beauty will be the development direction of future beauty salons.

An interview with Mr. Charles Chin,
Chairman and CEO of INDIBA ASIA

INDIBA®, originated in Barcelona, Spain since 1983, has been dedicated to the research and development of medical and beauty devices for 38 years, with a number of international patents. INDIBA® has long been awarded a number of medical certifications by the US FDA and many other authorities including in the European Union, Japan, Korea, Singapore and many others. It is of no surprise that INDIBA® has drawn so much attention in the medical and aesthetics field all these years. 

INDIBA® covers a wide range of treatments in the field of medical, physiotherapy & rehabilitation, beauty aesthetics, Spa and wellness and has gathered many customers and fans all over the world. SpaChina interviewed Charles Chin, the Chairman and CEO of INDIBA ASIA, to learn more about this legendary brand especially in wellness and aesthetics, and to get a foresight of its future development and plans.

What is the core technology of INDIBA®?

I would like to share with you three main features that lie at the heart of INDIBA®.

1. With more than 300 clinical reports, 19 international patents and another 6 patents under review, INDIBA® brings to China not only excellent devices, but more importantly, close to four decades of practical experience and cutting-edge technology.

2. With the specific and precise frequency of 448 kHz, the INDIBA Proionic System® facilitates the correct ion mobilization, with a suitable flow of ions between the extracellular and intracellular fluid, the cell’s electric potential is balanced and the cell recovers its physiological functions.

3.INDIBA® is a pioneer in diathermy innovation: the use of monopolar radio-frequency energy that move through the cells of various impedances and molecules to generate heat from within the body. The heat is generated from the body internally, to achieve a thermal effect that may last for 4 to 8 hours, thus improving metabolism and enhancing the core temperature of body. We know that higher body temperature allows the immune system to work at a healthier condition. The internal body thermal effect can effectively maintain a healthy immune system and subsequently improves the body’s health.

In summary, INDIBA® not only utilizes “heat”, but also uses the 448kHz Proionic frequency at non-thermal state to restore cells to their optimal conditions. Studies have shown that the combination of a precise and stable 448kHz frequency can promote biostimulation at the cellular level and enhance cellular function. Its regenerative, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergy, and value-added effects on stem cells can give anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects, while promoting the recovery of fractures and soft tissue injuries, improving blood circulation (reduce swelling and bruising) and stimulating tissue regeneration. What is even more worth mentioning is that this frequency also has the ability to reduce fat formation, in other words, the rebound rate after fat reduction is low. This is a unique technology for the slimming industry.

What kind of businesses has INDIBA® worked with in China so far?

Since we entered China market in 2016, we have deployed and actively integrated INDIBA® in four major fields – sports medicine, medical aesthetics, beauty, and animal rehabilitation.

For instance, INDIBA®’s CT series has been included into the syllabus of Rehabilitation Study by the Beijing Sport University – the highest institution in China’s sports industry. Currently, INDIBA® systems can be seen at the Faculty of Physiotherapy in Beijing Sport University. So far, BSU has published three master’s theses and two bachelor’s theses based on the use of INDIBA® in improving sports injury recovery and on the treatment of bone and joint disorders.

INDIBA®’s sports medicine series have also been selected and procured by the General Administration of Sports of China as a technology brand to safeguard the medical condition of the athletes and at the same time improve their performance. INDIBA® has been used by several professional teams of General Administration of Sports of China, such as the athletics team, badminton team, shooting team as well as the archery team. In the sports medicine industry, INDIBA® is deemed as one of the most trusted brands by the champions.

In the medical field, INDIBA® NS Series is a professional medical device used in plastic & cosmetic surgery, dermatology, gynaecology and pain departments. This model is currently undergoing the China FDA registration process. Very soon, INDIBA® will bring about a new breakthrough to the medical field in China.

INDIBA®’s AH Series for animal rehabilitation provides extra care to horses in equestrian sports. In recent years, INDIBA® has also ventured into the small animal health market to improve the health of our little family members.

INDIBA®’s beauty range – the IA series and ER series were well regarded as the “Ace device” by beauty professionals soon after it was launched in China. To date, INDIBA®’s installation bases have exceeded one thousand units. We have been working closely with most of the top beauty organizations in China. More than 25,000 units of INDIBA are now installed globally. We sell direct to all our customers in the beauty industry, without engaging any third-party agents or distributors. We also avoid the “device sharing project” kind of cooperation as much as possible.

As INDIBA®’s branches in China, both INDIBA Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. and INDIBA Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. have the opportunity to directly serve each and every customer.

What INDIBA treatments are suitable for SPA and beauty salons?

INDIBA® delivers a wide range of treatments. Generally speaking, everyone who ever experienced INDIBA® would be deeply impressed by the comfort it brings them. In addition to our regular programs, I’d like to share with you some of the most popular treatments in China which are also unique to the market. 

1. INDIBA® can work on the entire eye area without requiring the practitioners to wear eye shields or other protective tools, going over the upper and lower eyelids, and other delicate areas to reduce eye wrinkles, fine lines, to smoothen and firm the skin around the eyes. Additionally, it reduces eyes fatigue and dry eye issues suffered by people nowadays.

2.  INDIBA® can work on the entire breast area, including the areola and nipples. In addition to breast-shaping treatment, it can also improve breast health, including postpartum breast engorgement, breast pain, and milk secretion problems.

3.  In terms of body contouring, in addition to targeting subcutaneous fat, INDIBA® boasts the pioneer technology in the market to reduce visceral fat based on scientific evidence, a result that no other device in the market can deliver. Thanks to its unique 448kHz anti-adipogenic effect.

4.  INDIBA® can also improve the conditions of arthritis, joint pain, joint stiffness, and more, significantly increasing the satisfaction of customers.

5.  INDIBA® develops exclusive accessories and tools for specific treatments such as fascia treatment, woman’s health, scalp management, SPA sculpture, and etc. In the area of woman’s health, INDIBA® has obtained clinical reports for its results on endometriosis, polyps, pelvic inflammation, and pelvic floor muscle repair. INDIBA, with its Sculpture Kit designed for beauty salons and Spas, can deliver effortless yet effective massage results vs manual massage, ultimate body sculpturing effects on misaligned shoulders, buffalo hump, muffin top, abdominal tightening, saddle bag and leg toning. Visible result can be seen after the first treatment. The sub-health conditions of modern people can also be effectively prevented and improved with INDIBA®. Therefore, it brings added value and extra revenue streams to the beauty salons and Spas.

Of course, INDIBA® is not a magic, one should still go to the hospital if you are not well. However, INDIBA® is often used as a key complementary treatment to improve your health.

In the post-pandemic era, people are very interested in programs related to the immune system. What makes INDIBA different in terms of immune system enhancement?

INDIBA® has developed a protocol for immune system enhancement which has been in application for many years. In the post-pandemic era, INDIBA® medical team has come up with a solution to improve the respiratory functions of those who recover from COVID-19. It helps alleviate the symptoms, speed up recovery, and more importantly, largely improve the quality of life.  

As we all know, immunity is closely related to health. Our latest generation – the sixth generation of INDIBA® – uses a breakthrough technology, with a patented compact modulation mode of 448 kHz and 20 kHz, that allow accelerated tissues repairing and an effective increase in the basal body temperature. Studies have reported that for every 1 degree Celsius increase in basal body temperature, the body’s immunity rises by 37%.

Furthermore, INDIBA® has been proven to be effective in balancing cells and promoting mesenchymal stem cells by up to 25%. We all know the functions of mesenchymal stem cells in the human body, and now people can enjoy the health benefits of INDIBA® treatments in a safe, comfortable and non-invasive way.

How do you see the market competition of brands and products with similar technology and functions?

“Revitalizing Lives” is our brand tagline and such is the vision and mission that keeps us going. We are relatively low-key in the market as we focus mainly on the “word-of-mouth” approach. It is the result of the effectiveness of our devices that speak for itself and help us gain the trust and confidence of our customers for many years and their repeat orders.

INDIBA® is ‘often imitated, never duplicated’ since its introduction from year 1983. The medical research team in Spain is constantly developing and innovating new products, while the Chinese team has vast experience in wellness, medical aesthetics, beauty, physiotherapy and rehabilitation. We are taking a scientific and rational approach to continually develop new Spa and beauty protocols. Today, it is becoming increasingly clear that health and beauty are closely intertwined, and INDIBA® is a brand that highlights such relation between the two. It redefines the beauty of life, INDIBA revitalizing lives.