The success story behind Hokuoh Kurashi no Douguten’s new cosmetic line and e-marketing strategy
Hokuoh Kurashi no Douguten, a Japanese blog-style online store run by Kurashicom Inc., has released its own line of cosmetics. We take a closer look at their innovative way of marketing where they evoke enthusiasm for the brand from users based on the values they’ve cultivated throughout their 14-year history as a pioneer of ‘story-style commerce’.
Makeup items by KURASHI&Trips PUBLISHING, an original brand produced by online store Hokuoh Kurashi no Douguten that sees 1.5 million monthly visitors, were released on April 27 this year and saw sales of over 6,000 units within just a month and a half. These items include an eyeliner that comes in 5 colors and lipstick with 3 colors. Purchasers haven’t been limited to existing Hokuoh customers either — new customers have come after finding out about these new products via the brand’s YouTube channel and social media.
Hokuoh Kurashi no Douguten is an e-commerce site that both sells and publishes informative articles about lifestyle goods, such as tableware, and interior goods, all of which they’ve curated through their unique perspective. The idea to try their hand at makeup products goes back 3 years when they started selling clothes through the KURASHI&Trips PUBLISHING brand. Sales of these clothes got off to an incredibly good start, and they felt they were on to something that could dramatically grow their business. Then, the field of beauty was proposed as a new category for the brand to pursue next.
Kurashicom Director and Hokuoh Store Manager Tomoko Sato says however that she felt they needed to explain to users why Hokuoh was going to handle cosmetics and what the company’s intentions were. She thought it best to first create items that they could confidently offer to users and then, after building up relatability and understanding towards the brand, go on to broaden the range of products.
When developing the products, Sato thought deeply about how she could relate with users via her own wishes and frustrations and what type of elements were true to the Hokuoh spirit, and this became a part of their creation.
Therefore, it was all the more of a breakthrough while she was trying to make progress in a field she wasn’t familiar with when she got in touch with beauty writer Ayana. The encounter leaded Sato to realize that cosmetics is the same as lifestyle goods or clothes and you can chose items you feel to like.
By the spring of 2019, Sato and the leader of her MD department began having weekly meetings together about product planning. After around 2 months spent forming the goal and product concept they wanted to aim for, they could finally envision what these cosmetics, which needed to be backed by the Hokuoh users, would look like. From there, development began in earnest with seven members both from inside and outside the company, including writer Ayana.
They started by bringing up the beauty and makeup as themes in special feature articles and podcasts streamed every two weeks and measured the response from users in regard to the cosmetics through page views, video views, and users’ comments on the podcasts.
Along with this, to emphasize the significance of Ayana’s involvement with the project, they published an interview with Sato and Ayana fairly early on before the release and also began a regular column by Ayana on the website. This allowed users to get to know Ayana beforehand and even become a fan of her writing.
Another thing Sato paid close attention to was to form a natural connection between makeup and lifestyle.
They called on a designer living in Finland to create the company’s first original textiles for use in the product packaging. These textile designs were used in a limited-edition compact mirror that commemorated the release, and they also plan to use them in some general household goods they’ll sell in September.
Sato says that “I think it’s a good thing even if some users don’t buy the makeup items but wish to buy these other goods because of the textile design”. Indeed, while providing these new makeup options, they’re seeing existing users who’ve always visited the Hokuoh site because they’re interested in general household goods, interior items, and clothing eventually become caught up and interested in this new enterprise.
Moving forward, they plan to further substantiate their beauty category by releasing new makeup items in the fall and winter and also begin to stock up on more cosmetic products.
Sato let us in on her future plans: “For stocking, we plan for buyers to select the items they wish to handle based on their own judgment, similar to general household goods and apparel. Hokuoh sees this year as one where it’s important for us to show users that we’re serious about our beauty category and will continue on with it. If we can earn their trust regarding that, it could lead to more initiatives in the form of makeup and skincare development. Our goal is to build up this category so it can earn profits in the range of hundreds of millions of yen within two to three years.”
Sato also mentions that “at Hokuoh, there really was a big significance in handling cosmetics. … I want these products to allow users like myself, who have felt slightly isolated from the world of makeup, to end up feeling closer to it. For users who have always loved applying makeup or who have experience with many types of makeup items, I hope that we can bring something fresh to the table.”
There’s still a certain number of users who have regularly visited the Hokuoh Kurashi no Douguten site for years but have yet to buy anything. The hope that cosmetics may push these users to make their first purchase has been integrated into the design of these original cosmetics.
Text: Ching Li Tor
Original text (Japanese): Lina Ono
