Electric toothbrush profiteering marketing techniques

The big Vs first introduced the topic with personal stories, then related to dental health, and finally ended by issuing coupons. Depending on the level of "coffee status", bloggers can receive a one-time remuneration ranging from several thousand to tens of thousands, or a commission of dozens of yuan per order.

"Almost no mass consumer products can achieve such high gross profit margins as electric toothbrushes." The ex-factory price of an electric toothbrush worth about a thousand yuan on the market is only about 170 yuan; the cost of an electric toothbrush priced around 300 yuan may be less than a hundred yuan. Yuan.

"There are more than 200 domestic brands, and production and supply are almost entirely dependent on more than 20 foundries. How big a difference can there be in quality?"

The 37th Beijing International Exhibition in 2018 A stand for electric toothbrushes at the Gifts, Premiums and Housewares Exhibition. Electric toothbrushes have become a new round of capital. (Visual China/Photo)

(This article was first published in "Southern Weekend" on June 13, 2019)

Starting from March 2019, every time I open Weibo, Shanghai white-collar workers Lin Xin (pseudonym) has a fear of being dominated by electric toothbrush advertisements.

Whether it is a travel blogger with a global mind, a current affairs blogger with pointers, or even a big V with an intellectual light, they will eventually meet under the advertisement of electric toothbrushes, and even Han Han's dog " "Answered" the ad.

"If you are a self-media big V and have not received an electric toothbrush advertisement, it means you are not big enough." In an article titled "No big V can escape the electric toothbrush" In the article, Internet information blogger Lu Shihan joked. He revealed that not long after the article was published, no less than ten manufacturers came to him "seeking cooperation."

Industry insiders recall that in the past year or two, hundreds of electric toothbrush brands have suddenly appeared on the market. According to statistics compiled by the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, there are currently 424 brands on the JD.com platform alone.

Respondents said that as far as the electric toothbrush industry is concerned, it sprouted in 2012, became a new hot spot on mainstream e-commerce platforms in 2016, and entered rapid development at the end of 2018. The China Household Electrical Appliances Association responded to a reporter from Southern Weekend that in 2017 and 2018, domestic sales of electric toothbrushes reached 3.2 billion yuan and 4.8 billion yuan respectively, a year-on-year increase of 70% and 50%.

Such a huge industry has hidden secrets. Cheng Tuo, a partner of the lifestyle vertical e-commerce brand Jisu Black Market, told Southern Weekend reporters that the production and supply of hundreds of domestic electric toothbrush brands are mainly concentrated in more than 20 foundries. “Most of them are just brand changes. In fact, The products are all the same, but the marketing team is better and the price is higher."

"Throwing a wide net for marketing, the entire industry is going crazy for electric toothbrushes. Is this the result we want?" After watching the wave of "big Vs selling toothbrushes across the Internet", Cheng Reflect.

After careful observation of the industry, Lin Xin believes that she has found the most common point in the marketing of domestic electric toothbrushes-"like to target KOL (opinion leaders)". It is difficult to find relevant soft articles in traditional media or search engines, but on platforms with strong fan stickiness such as Weibo, Xiaohongshu, Bilibili, and Douyin, electric toothbrush promotions can be seen everywhere.

In March 2019, "Wuyue Sanren", which has nearly 3 million Weibo fans, also received advertising invitations. Afterwards, he posted the story on Weibo: The brand owner asked him to write a story about himself and his teeth. "Wuyue Sanren" was a little surprised: "My teeth never cause trouble, why don't we just sell electric toothbrushes and be done with it?" But it didn't work, so I had to tell a story.

So, "the brand owner's staff gave a brief summary", and he posted on Weibo accordingly that his teeth had never been very white because he had taken tetracycline drugs when he was a child. After using the electric toothbrush for 3 months, the stains have been removed a lot and the teeth are a little whiter.

Chen Maohui, CEO of Mengyajia Electric Toothbrush, did not shy away from saying that Mengyajia is the brand with the most advertising on Weibo. In 2015, he transformed from an education and training company into an electric toothbrush. The company had also approached dentists to promote its products earlier, but ordinary consumers simply could not understand those professional terms.

At the end of 2018, Chen Maohui decided to adjust his communication strategy and launch a Weibo celebrity. He said that the company rarely places beauty bloggers, but prefers to choose "those with high academic qualifications and credibility."

The general routine is that the big Vs first introduce their personal stories, then connect them to dental health, and finally end by issuing coupons.

"We are using the model of "Zhiyin" and "Reader" for user communication." He told a reporter from Southern Weekend.

After placing more than 600 Weibo influencers, the effect was immediate. "In the first half of 2019, our turnover is expected to reach the sum of the previous three years." Chen Maohui insists that Mengyajia is essentially an education company, using electric toothbrushes as a carrier to popularize oral care knowledge.

"This marketing method is very smart, equivalent to spending dozens of dollars to acquire a user." An electric toothbrush entrepreneur commented. Click on the coupon link shared by the blogger in the comment area, and the page will jump to the Tmall flagship store. The brand owner settles with each blogger based on the number of leads he directs.

A popular science blogger who received an advertising invitation from Mengyajia revealed to a Southern Weekend reporter that bloggers can receive a one-time remuneration ranging from several thousand to tens of thousands, depending on their “popularity”. It’s a commission of tens of dollars per order.

Nationwide, most of the people who buy electric toothbrushes are young people and women. The "KOL planting culture" of online platforms has become an important channel for young users to obtain information and make purchase decisions.

Usmile, an emerging electric toothbrush brand, focuses on Xiaohongshu and Bilibili. It uses celebrities to share the secrets of Little White Teeth and develops strong "Amway" products. At the same time, various evaluations and "planting grass and demining" content from amateurs make marketing look less "excessive". Even Guangdong Luoman Intelligent, a rare listed company in the electric toothbrush industry, has joined in and captured a large group of fans on Xiaohongshu.

However, the overwhelming promotion of various brands has also disgusted some consumers. Lin Xin's complaints were similar to the "magic brainwashing" of melatonin ads when she was a child.

"I ask you to study hard every day, but you will also feel annoyed." Chen Maohui didn't take it to heart at all, "I never said how awesome my products are, I just asked you to brush your teeth well. , is there anything wrong?”

Many people think that electric toothbrushes are a new thing that only appeared in the past ten years. In fact, not long after traditional toothbrushes became popular all over the world, electric toothbrushes were born.

In 1954, a Swiss doctor invented the electric toothbrush, originally intended for use by disabled people who could not take care of themselves. It consists of a power supply, a motor and a brush head. Through the rapid rotation or vibration of the electric movement, the brush head vibrates at high frequency, breaking down the toothpaste into fine foam to clean the spaces between the teeth.

It was not until around 2012 that electric toothbrushes became recognized by white-collar workers in first- and second-tier cities in China with the help of the Internet. There are hundreds or thousands of foreign brands that have become synonymous with light luxury and high-quality life. But for most consumers, electric toothbrushes are not even considered “dispensable”, but “unnecessary”.

What really made electric toothbrushes popular was the e-commerce platform. In 2018, Tmall sold 120,000 electric toothbrushes in one hour on Double Eleven.

Statistics from Nielsen, a well-known market research company, show that the market share of domestic electric toothbrushes was only about 5% in 2015. In the United States and Japan, the figures are 42% and 40% respectively. The attributes of rigid needs and consumables further highlight the huge market potential of the industry.

After the electric toothbrush became an Internet celebrity, capital also poured in rapidly. Domestic brands such as Guangdong Luoman Intelligent Technology and Ningbo Bayer have entered the market one after another; Xiaomi, which started with mobile phones, has successively launched many different brands such as Mijia, Soushi, Oclean, and Dr. Bei; the cumulative sales of NetEase's carefully selected electric toothbrushes have Over a million.

But Cheng Tuo and people in the industry know that the popularity of electric toothbrushes is not due to the excellent product itself, but because of information asymmetry. "Under the premise of a high degree of symmetry of information, almost no mass consumer products can achieve such high gross profits as electric toothbrushes." An industry insider revealed that the ex-factory price of an electric toothbrush worth about 1,000 yuan on the market is only about 170 yuan; the price is 300 yuan. A top-notch electric toothbrush may cost less than a hundred dollars.

On an e-commerce platform that focuses on purchasing and wholesale, Southern Weekend reporters saw the agency price list of a certain brand of electric toothbrushes: the purchase price for less than 1,000 sets is 40 yuan, and the purchase price for more than 1,000 sets is 35 yuan. . On Taobao, the retail price of the same model is 178 yuan.

On the one hand, it is driven by high profits, and on the other hand, it is the market demand brought by the "Internet celebrity" physique. Chen Maohui said that the industry has now entered a "barbaric growth period": "The players are so diverse that everyone wants to get involved. A brand will appear in two to three months to half a year.

”

When purchasing an electric toothbrush for her family, Lin Xin had trouble choosing. Not to mention it was difficult to distinguish between good and bad quality, she didn’t even know what parameters to look at.

High-end products cost over a thousand dollars and are equipped with multiple brushing modes such as cleaning, whitening, and deep cleaning. They can also be connected to an app to track brushing intensity and remind you of unreached areas; on some e-commerce platforms that are driving down traffic, the prices are But it’s so low that it’s less than 100 yuan, and it also comes with 4 brush heads.

Cheng Tuo told Southern Weekend reporters that electric toothbrushes at different prices differ in terms of bristle material, motor power and production technology. There is indeed a difference, especially for products under 100 yuan, the parts and workmanship are relatively rough. "There are more than 200 domestic brands, and production and supply are almost entirely dependent on more than 20 OEMs. How big a difference can there be in quality? ”

His company has multiple product categories such as facial cleansers and latex pillows. He entered the electric toothbrush industry because he wanted to “expand the product category and play with it.” After the Spring Festival in 2019, Cheng Tuo and his partners Planning to launch a "high-end" electric toothbrush, it took a lot of effort to find a suitable OEM. "It took a long time to select and receive more than ten samples."

"Generation." Factories generally lack motivation for R&D. " Chen Maohui said. Some OEMs did not originally produce electric toothbrushes, but were transformed from manufacturers of small household appliances such as facial cleansers and razors. Mengyajia's products were first produced by factories in Ningbo, but the cooperation was "particularly tiring. ", and finally changed to a Shenzhen supplier.

Most of the electric toothbrush OEM factories are concentrated in Shenzhen. The manufacturers provide technology, and the OEM provides solutions. "Some brands will put forward requirements, and we will develop and produce them according to the requirements. Some just change the logo. "Du Yuhang, a salesperson at a foundry in Shenzhen, told Southern Weekend reporters. The owner of his factory is a foundry manufacturer and has the technology. He has always wanted to transform into his own brand, but he was unable to promote and market the products and could not sell the products.

Electric toothbrushes are small household appliances in the beauty, health and personal care category and have manufacturing attributes. However, in Du Yuhang’s view, most domestic brands are more like Internet marketing companies.

Currently, electric toothbrushes are common on the market. According to the working principle, toothbrushes can be divided into rotary type and sonic type. The former is represented by Oral B, and the latter is represented by Philips. According to Taobao data, from 2015 to 2017, Oral B and Philips have always dominated the market share. It ranks among the top two, accounting for nearly half of the domestic market.

After doing a wave of market research, Du Yuhang found that the appearance of domestic electric toothbrushes is almost the same, and it is impossible to tell them apart if they change the logo. Directly imitating the appearance of Philips. There is a lack of high-end products with core technological innovations, and the mid-to-low-end products that focus on cost-effectiveness are even more mixed.

Since the products are so homogeneous, why can they obtain such high premiums? In terms of marketing.

When choosing an electric toothbrush, frequency is one of the key indicators. Many brands claim that "the vibration frequency reaches 31,000 times/min", but the higher the frequency, the better the cleaning effect.

“Torque and amplitude are the most important hidden parameters. "Cheng Tuo explained that once the toothbrush contacts the teeth and feels the pressure transmitted by the hand, its vibration frequency will weaken accordingly. An electric toothbrush with large torque can overcome the influence of external hand force and continue to maintain the set effective amplitude. Otherwise, the amplitude will be The cleaning effect is greatly reduced.

Almost all electric toothbrush brands claim to have "DuPont bristles", but Su Jianhong, founder of Beijing Qidian Dental Clinic, explained to Southern Weekend reporters, DuPont bristles are not a rare thing. "The key depends on the rounding rate of the bristles."

The sharp angles and burrs of unrounded bristles will damage the teeth. According to the GB 19342-2013 "Toothbrush" national standard. , the cross section of the top of the bristles should be free of sharp corners and should not have burrs. However, this standard does not apply to electric toothbrushes.

Few brands include key indicators such as amplitude, torque, and rounding rate in their product introductions. China and Canada made it clear. Southern Weekend reporters consulted the online customer service of many brands as consumers, and they all said they had never heard of it.

Two months ago, Peking University Dental Hospital. Shen Song, chief physician of the Department of Endodontics, also received a private message from a certain brand inviting cooperation. “As a dentist, I don’t want to stand for any oral care products.

”

There are always patients asking him: Which is better, electric toothbrush or manual toothbrush? His point of view is: If the brushing method is correct, there is not much difference in the cleaning effect between the two. Electric toothbrushes can be used with mobile apps to To manage toothbrushing behavior, more functions can be added to analyze and monitor oral health, and brushing efficiency is higher, “but the premise is that the method of brushing teeth must be correct. ” He told Southern Weekend reporters.

The internationally recognized standard tooth brushing method is the Pap brushing method recommended by the American Dental Association - the bristles are pointed at a 45° angle to the area close to the gums, and the bristles are moved forward and backward for a short distance in situ. Vibrate horizontally 4-5 times. When vibrating, the toothbrush moves only about 1 mm and brushes 2-3 teeth each time, which can effectively remove plaque near the gingival margin and in the gingival sulcus.

Su Jianhong also agrees. This point of view. To control plaque in the mouth and keep gums healthy, it is not enough to rely on electric toothbrushes alone. It must be combined with flossing and toothbrushing. “Current manufacturers exaggerate the role of toothbrushes and toothpastes intentionally or unintentionally. ”

More and more companies are entering the industry, but targeted standards for electric toothbrushes have been missing. Product performance indicators are not uniform, and there is a lack of standardized and consistent testing methods, which brings hidden dangers to the healthy development of the industry.

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Supporting policies have begun to follow up. At the end of March 2019, the China Household Electrical Appliances Association held a drafting meeting for the "Electric Toothbrush" standard. The association responded to Southern Weekend reporters that the standard should describe the defining content of electric toothbrushes. It is clear that the performance and safety of electric toothbrushes will also be regulated. “Relevant units participating in the formulation of the standard have completed the first draft of the standard and are soliciting opinions. Discussions on the content of the standard will be carried out in succession. If progress goes well, the standard will be completed within the year. ”

The association said that with the introduction of standards, consumers’ confusion when purchasing electric toothbrushes will gradually decrease.

Cheng Tuo is also optimistic that he will wait until the industry’s dividend period is over. , the flashy marketing tricks are gradually used up, which will force the brand owners to improve their quality. "The reshuffle may come faster at that time."