Philips China, accelerating localization.
The overall online retail market in China is steadily growing. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the online retail sales in China reached 13.79 trillion yuan in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 4%.
As one of the earliest multinational enterprises to come to China for development, Philips, with a 132 year history, has also entered the Chinese market for 100 years. How can foreign-funded enterprises seize the development opportunities of the Chinese market as cycles change?
Philips provides the answer - focusing on consumers and taking the path that suits them.
There are many ways to succeed, but for Philips, it's not about imitating others, but about sticking to oneself, so that more consumers can live a healthier and more comfortable life through Philips' products, "said Xiang Jing, the e-commerce general manager of Philips' Greater China Health Life Business Group.
Keeping up with the times while maintaining its own characteristics, this persistence can be said to be Philips' "long-term ism", which helped Philips withstand the test of time and the market in a century long economic cycle. It is precisely by adhering to the principle of "being oneself" that Philips strategically positioned its e-commerce team as a tool for brand building in the new market ecosystem, based on changes in consumer habits and forward-looking predictions of market trends, rather than just a tool for selling goods. This also enabled Philips to operate various active online platforms for consumers more efficiently.
The uniqueness of e-commerce lies in its diverse platforms and rapidly changing business models. This particularity deeply affects the decision-making of enterprises. In the wave after wave of e-commerce, Philips has always placed consumers at the core, using cutting-edge big data analysis to focus on product quality, continuously innovating and creating innovative products for consumers, and creating a brand moat; At the same time, leverage the brand's profound insights into the market accumulation, and achieve precise reach through differentiated e-commerce platform marketing strategies.
Insight into needs
On November 5th, Philips made its debut at the 6th China International Import Expo, marking its sixth consecutive year of participation in the Expo. Based on the increasing emphasis on personal health among consumers and the increasingly diversified demand for personal health products, Philips has submitted a "technology+health" answer sheet and upgraded its "China strategy" of "in China, for China". At this CIIE, Philips focuses on the theme of "Smart Innovation in China" and integrates "global innovation" with "Chinese wisdom" in the field of healthy living.
Philips' clear understanding of Chinese consumers comes not only from offline channels, but also from close communication with consumers online. Taking e-commerce channels as an example, for Chinese consumers, e-commerce is not only a shopping path, but also contracts for brand recognition, product after-sales and other needs. Philips has transformed its original "distribution system" into an "e-commerce business unit", equipped with professional teams such as product development, marketing, data operations, and after-sales, to form a BCC (Business Channel Combination), which combines business and channels.
The feedback from the front line was analyzed and summarized by the team to gain consumer insights. Based on this, Philips will bring new products from new and mature categories to the target audience, completing business practices from research to monetization.
For example, Philips uses platform consumption data and precise research capabilities to gain insights into consumers and refine product matrices. In September, the brand launched the "Luxury Honeycomb 9 Series Starry Sky Blue Razor", equipped with Philips' Lift& Cut "Micro Lift Cutting Technology". During the shaving process, the beard can be gently "lifted" and then "quickly shaved" from the root, bringing the shaving closer to 0.0 micrometers, disregarding the barrier of the blade thickness, making it more suitable for the skin and shaving cleaner and more comfortable.
In addition, Philips also collaborated with TMIC (Tmall New Product Innovation Center) to conduct a survey on the driving forces of consumer shaver purchases, and released the "2023 Chinese Men's Beauty White Paper". The "White Paper" analyzed the five core groups of the men's beauty market, found that young male consumers are increasingly demanding skin care and product appearance, and summarized three main demands of men for shavers: a clean and fast shaving experience Smooth and comfortable skin feel, as well as the durability of the product itself.
To this end, Philips has launched the "Beehive X Razor" specifically designed for boys with acne and sensitive muscles, and has become the top 3 best-selling model on the internet.
In July of this year, Philips collaborated with multiple professional dentists and medical institutions to break through the blind spot of oral hygiene. Based on clinical insights, Philips has developed the Sonicare Diamond 7 Series Variable Frequency Gingival Protection Brush. By optimizing the brushing mode, bristle swing, brushing force, and brush head material, consumers can effectively clean hidden areas that are prone to bacterial growth, such as dental gaps and gingival line areas, while protecting fragile gums. Philips Sonicare is leading the oral care industry into the era of intelligent gingival care with the concept of "Chinese intelligent manufacturing".
At this year's CIIE, China's debut "Little Aurora Pulse Light Hair Removal Device" upgraded SenseIQ smart skincare and sapphire ice touch technology, which not only does not affect hair removal efficiency, but is better suitable for Asian and sensitive skin groups.
It is worth mentioning that Philips is able to quickly provide feedback on customer needs because all of its strategic development is based on "product strength". Only by accumulating knowledge in professional fields and closely combining professional medical background with consumer insights can we bring true 'professional and reliable' solutions, "said Xiang Jing. In 2022, the group established three major innovation centers in China. Among them, the Shenzhen Innovation Center focuses on product research and development for healthy living and connected care businesses, bringing innovative products and solutions from the source.
By using "e-commerce channels" to connect brand business links, Philips has achieved remarkable results. Currently, about 80% of the brand's revenue comes from online channels.
Intensive cultivation and meticulous cultivation
In terms of e-commerce operations, Philips has made a deep transformation towards "refinement", attempting to balance brand marketing and business efficiency issues in the short, medium, and long term under traffic competition, such as sound pallet deployment, talent management, anchor image and script management, to ensure a smooth consumption experience and retain consumers; At the same time, precise crowd matching and information transmission are carried out to provide targeted interaction and category education for different consumers, improving conversion rates. In short, Philips aims to push 'suitable products' to' those in need 'at a lower cost through the' right approach '.
On the one hand, Philips has developed targeted sales strategies and launched different product combinations based on the differentiation of positioning on major e-commerce platforms: Alibaba focuses on meeting the diverse needs of users, while Philips focuses on refined operations; JD focuses on the operation transformation of high net worth users, consolidating the basic operation of high-end products and groups; In Tiktok, where consumers' interests are concentrated, more attention is paid to the operation of the live broadcast room to improve the grass planting capacity of the content.
On the other hand, e-commerce channels are flourishing, emerging e-commerce platforms are emerging, and a wave of live streaming sales is coming. Philips combines the characteristics of different platforms such as traditional e-commerce and interest e-commerce, as well as various forms of e-commerce live streaming and talent cooperation, to build a comprehensive e-commerce business structure and develop a comprehensive "big health ecosystem".
Live streaming e-commerce is an important field for brands to interact with consumers, and has become an important part of Philips' e-commerce layout. We regard live streaming as an important tool for e-commerce business, helping brands strengthen their connection with consumers. "Xiang Jing emphasized.
In addition, Philips also provides consumers with more daily, comprehensive, and in-depth new ideas and professional solutions for healthy living through multi-dimensional online and offline integration measures, producing high-quality creative assets that can better impress local consumers.
The "Philips Healthy Life Lab" located in Fengsheng Li, Zhangyuan, Jing'an, Shanghai is the world's first offline experience center for Philips. Since its opening at the end of November last year, Philips has not only moved live streaming to the Lab to integrate online healthy lifestyle content with offline practical experiences, but also actively collaborated with trendy brands, sports brands, internet celebrity calligraphers, and others to organize activities in the Lab, providing various customized products and services, attracting the favor of the younger generation of consumers. For example, in this year's "Tiktok Super Brand Day" on Qixi, Philips packaged its offline Labs into a huge romantic gift box with floral fragrance, attracting many young consumers to clock in and becoming a hot trend place on Qixi, the capital of magic.
Multiplier effect
Philips is actively collaborating with e-commerce platforms to deeply integrate technological innovation with channel resources, jointly develop and implement marketing strategies, stimulate the "multiplier effect" of e-commerce business, and further understand and meet demand to better serve consumers.
In terms of crowd insight, when Philips launched the "Luxury 9-Series Sky Blue Limited Edition Razor" in September this year, it positioned its target audience as high-end male users and female users in gift giving scenarios, and the JD platform has a matching high net worth demographic attribute. As a result, Philips has made JD.com the exclusive global channel for the launch of the new product, jointly organizing new product events to meet the advanced grooming needs of high-end users on the platform.
During the initial launch period, this new product ranked among the top 1 high-end shavers on the platform.
Philips continues to approach young people through a "co innovation marketing" approach. In order to provide warmth and hope to consumers during special times, in April 2022, during the Tmall Super Brand Day event, Philips and CASCI collaborated to collect everyone's good wishes on the Tmall mini program and design exclusive wish tickets, sending everyone's longing for a better life into space through the "Philips Beehive" rocket. At the same time, both parties have launched a co branded Beehive 9 Series shaver gift box, filling the ceremony with a sense of ceremony.
The cooperation between the two sides is constantly deepening. At the end of September, the global headquarters of Philips Health Life Business and the management team from Greater China visited Taotian Group for inspection and exchange. The two sides deeply discussed key issues such as cooperation models, strategic planning, and market expansion.
At this year's CIIE, Philips signed cooperation intentions with several important e-commerce channel partners. In the future, it will focus on digital innovation and big data mining, deeply insight into consumer needs, and promote "end-to-end" localized operations for in-depth and specific cooperation.
By 2022, Philips products and solutions have improved the healthy lives of nearly 500 million Chinese people. With global innovation and local practices, Philips is taking every step to fulfill its commitment to serving the Chinese market.
Next year, we have still set positive sales targets, and in response to the 'internal competition' e-commerce environment between platforms, we still have confidence in achieving our goals and consolidating market share! "Xiang Jing said.
Imitating others is a low-risk shortcut, but Philips firmly finds certainty in uncertainty, always centered on consumer needs, and finds its own path to advancement through exploration.