Herborist: A Successful Chinese [Cosmetics] Brand

As we have already mentioned this week the cosmetics industry in China is highly lucrative but crowded, particularly the skin care industry. The market is filled with overseas giants from America, Europe and Japan but where do the locals fit in? Enter 佰草集.

佰草集 aka Herborist’s parent company Shanghai Jahwa has a long and rich history dating back to the turn of the 20th century. As testament to Herborist’s strong showing in the domestic market it was awarded the title of “Shanghai famous brand” in 2005 and currently stands alone as the only local player in a highly competitive beauty market. So how has this local Shanghai brand managed to stand up and compete with the Estee Lauders and Sisleys ? Lets explore.

Herborist’s product range is not too dissimilar from it’s competitors, showcasing the usual creams, face packs and moisturisers. Where their strength lies however, is the specifically Chinese niche they have found  in a highly globalised industry whereby nationality and cultural references play a large role in marketing (Shishedo = Japanese purity, MAC = American sexiness, etc).

The brand cleverly distinguishes itself by “intergrating Traditional Chinese Medicine into the latest fruits of modern biotechnology”, as stated on their website. Imagery and even product innovation all make relevant nods to traditional Chinese, such as their nourishing and cleansing ‘Tai Qi Mud’, which promotes the Chinese aesthetic of balance through its yin-yang design and application process.

Their products are also well rounded out by the Herborist Spa, which opened in 2002 offering unique treatments to compliment their product range. These product and brand innovations, when coupled with a rising overall market trend for organic and natural products, have helped Herborist stay ahead of the curve.

Success

Although online consumer satisfaction is hard to guage with opinion differing wildly from person to person, confidence in Herborist products has recently been shown via an online vote of consumers’ favorite cosmetic brands. The brand was voted as having top products in no less than two different catergories.

More conclusive evidence of the brand’s success can be seen through the stock portfolio of Shanghai Jahwa. As the parent enterprise of Herborist, they were the first domestic cosmetic company to go public and over the years have showed consistent signs of improvement.

Other than Herborist, Shanghai Jahwa’s brand profile also includes:

• Chinfie – Luxury cosmetics line
• GF – Male cosmetics range endorsed by HK actor Tony Leung
• Maxam – Skin care for the mature lady
• Cocool -  Make-up for a younger market

With it’s extensive R+D operations and production infrastructures, Shanghai Jahwa, has been able to leverage the license for the complete market operation of Adidas personal care products in mainland China. Furthermore, the company has also established a joint venture with Sephora Cosmetics (part of the LVMH group) within China. Through this agreement Herborist has been able to establish itself as the first Chinese cosmetics brand carried by the Sephora in all it’s overseas markets, earning the brand a small amount of international recognition.

Whilst previous local competitors, Yue Sai, were added to L’oreal’s ever expanding brand list specifically due to Chinese commitment to “local” brands (“I will stick to Yue-Sai, no matter who owns it”), the Herborist brand is unlikely to be bought out anytime soon. The combination of good brand identity and marketing, as well as well nurtured business infrastructure and production are what make this brand successful. All too often local brands can lack one of these vital pieces and even with a small amount of success, they run the risk of being bought out by a larger conglomerate to help bolster one of these ailing factors. The depth of it’s operations and it’s baby steps into an international market are both good indicators of the continued success of the Herborist brand.