From Shenzhen: How did D2C skincare brand Florasis achieve $460m of e-commerce sales in just 3 years?

Radicle recently opened Radicle China, based in Shenzhen and led by Jianqian (Lynn) Lin. Radicle China is focused on helping the world’s leading companies better understand and engage with Chinese startup markets. Every week on Twitter, Lynn will be introducing you to a new Chinese startup market. Last week’s post on wireless charging, Energy Monster, and potential implications for western startups (here GoPuff, DoorDash and Instacart) is here.

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How did a D2C skincare brand achieve $460m of e-commerce sales in just 3 years? To put it in context, it took @Glossier six years to reach $100m sales. What if I tell you they have 8m customers without a single physical store? Who are they? What’s their secret sauce? Read on…

Founded in 2017, @Florasis (Huaxizi 花西子) is a Hangzhou-based cosmetic brand featuring traditional Chinese style design and packaging. The brand is known for 1. Close consumer relationships and Co-creation model 2. Leverage of KOL and KOC marketing and 3. Compelling cultural-based brand story.

In its product development, Florasis has designed a co-creation model through which it recruits “Experience Officers” from consumers to try the new products and leave feedback. The high-quality feedback from consumers also adds trustworthiness to the brand on social media like Little Red Book and Douyin which generates organic growth.

More than 20k participants have joined the co-creation program. Any consumer of the brand can apply. Florasis will only launch a new product when it reaches at least 90% satisfaction amongst Experience Officers in the testing phase. These valuable first-hand insights fuel product development but also enhance customer affinity with the brand.

Dating back to 2018 when livestream commerce was still nascent in China, Florasis partnered with Austin李佳琦, a KOL and top live streamer known for selling lipstick. The collab also expands to product design where as an example Florasis launched a limited set featuring Miao Ethnic Culture with Austin.

Other collabs include a crossover with clothing brand 3·ZM to promote Chinese Hanfu on NY Fashion Week, and a gift set box with Luzhoulaojiao, a traditional Chinese Baijiu(spirits) brand — which I’m really surprised since the consumer profiles of the two brands don’t seem to overlap too much.

One of the challenges I’ve heard from consumer brands in the West is that they are far away from the end-users. Could Florasis’s co-create model with KOLs and Experience Officers shed some light on the way of building customer community, loyalty, and engagement to brands like @Loreal and @Estee lauder?

In China, there’s been rising interest in domestic brands (国潮风) among young consumers. Previously, people viewed local Chinese brands as cheap and low-quality but this mentality has changed as consumers increasingly are attracted to domestic brands that leverage historical and cultural authenticity.

Florasis has caught this momentum in domestic brands and been successful in telling a compelling brand story featuring traditional Chinese culture. The KOL strategy has now extended into virtual influencers. I can’t wait to see Huaxizi and @Lilmiqula collab on Instagram!

As the first step to tap into the overseas market, Florasis started selling on Amazon Japan this March. Can it expand into the West and become a @Tiktok or @Shein in cosmetics? Domestically, what’s next? Launching physical stores like @Glossier?

A few takeaways I learned from Florasis: 1.The importance of storytelling, brand image, and brand story. 2. Make friends with your end-users — experience officer, managing community, co-creation model, etc. They might sound easy but it’s actually hard to do in a consistent way.

For more information and tweets about Radicle China — please follow @jianqianlin