[Tide Business Review/Original]
March 15th every year is a big test for many businesses.
"Oh, my God, I’m about to get a beauty needle to get a tattoo. I just want to cancel my appointment after watching the exposure of 3.15." Lynn from the editorial department said bitterly.
"Now there are too many beautiful girls on various social platforms. I feel that if I don’t maintain it, I will fall behind my peers. Since the road of medical beauty can’t work, I intend to try daily health and nourishing. This step by step is always safe. " Obviously, Lynn has fallen into the whirlpool of appearance anxiety.
Nowadays, with the rise of social platforms such as short videos, Weibo, and planting grass, this generation of young people began to make great efforts in their appearance. Like Lynn, medical beauty and daily nourishment became their "good medicine" for treating diseases. Among them, in addition to medical beauty, bird’s nest has also become their favorite. Statistics show that since 2019, bird’s nest has become the most popular nourishing product for the post-90s generation. With the entry of the post-00 generation with lower age groups, the consumption share of the younger generation in the bird’s nest consumption group has exceeded 50%.
On the one hand, the consumption of bird’s nest is becoming younger and younger due to the influence of social environmental factors such as appearance anxiety and the rise of Yan’s value economy. On the other hand, the bird’s nest enterprises have also identified the consumption characteristics of young people love figure, and introduced bird’s nest products that are easier and more convenient to eat, such as instant bowl of bird’s nest, stewed bird’s nest and freshly soaked bird’s nest, to directly hit the consumption pain points of the audience.
As Lynn shared, "It may not be easy for me to maintain good living habits for a month, but it is too easy for me to insist on drinking a bottle of freshly stewed bird’s nest a day."
Contemporary young people want beautiful faces, and nourishing consumer goods companies such as medical beauty and bird’s nest easily capture a bunch of young people with products that are quite confusing. This seems to be a two-way process, but the result is likely to be a "beautiful scam".
From rare treasures to popularization, the "controversy" of bird’s nest has never stopped.
In China, bird’s nest is listed as the first of the four traditional precious foods (swallow, abalone, wing and ginseng) in China, and it is regarded as the best food supplement and precious medicinal material. Until the founding of New China, bird’s nest was only a small-scale import.
In recent years, with the improvement of bird’s nest industrial chain and the smooth import and export trade, bird’s nest has become no longer rare in our lives, and the price has gradually become more "close to the people", so that more and more people can afford it.
According to the survey data recently released by Accenture, in China, nearly 400 million female consumers aged between 20 and 60 have a consumption expenditure as high as 10 trillion yuan every year. With the prevalence of topics such as appearance anxiety, age anxiety and health care anxiety in recent years, it has become the consensus of a group of female consumers to be "golden" for beauty.
In addition to daily nutrition and health products, Chinese nourishing has become an important channel for them to keep beautiful. Among the many Chinese nourishing products, bird’s nest has undoubtedly become the top player.
According to JD.COM’s "Report on Women’s Consumption in China in 2022", in 2022, women consumers on the platform of JD.COM ranked fifth in the consumption growth rate of traditional nourishing goods, while among all kinds of nourishing goods for health and beauty, the consumption of bird’s nest increased by three times year-on-year, ranking first in the increase of turnover.
On the one hand, the overall industry is improving due to the surge in demand, but on the other hand, the dispute about the "IQ tax" of bird’s nest has never stopped.
The main components of bird’s nest are water-soluble protein, carbohydrates, calcium, phosphorus, iron, sodium, potassium and other trace elements and amino acids. 100g of dried bird’s nest contains 50g of protein, and the protein content is about five times that of eggs of the same weight, which seems to be very high, but in fact, the average person’s daily consumption of bird’s nest is only a few grams, and the protein content can be said to be diluted very little.
The amazing "bird’s nest acid" recommended by merchants is not exclusive to bird’s nest, and there are many food substitutes with sialic acid. Daily foods such as milk and eggs all contain sialic acid. Many literature reports show that human liver can synthesize enough sialic acid independently.
When we turn our attention to the brand of bird’s nest on the market, take the 45g "Fresh Stewed Bird’s Nest Youth Model" with high sales volume of Xiaoxian Stewed on an e-commerce platform as an example. According to the product parameters of Xiaoxian Stewed, the addition amount of each bottle of dried bird’s nest is 2.2g. If the nutritional content is simply converted, how many nourishing ingredients can we get? Similarly, public product information shows that Yanzhiwu 45g "Fresh Stewed Bird’s Nest at 115℃" has a bird’s nest content of only 2.0g per bottle.
At the same time, the doubts of Xiaoxiandun and Yanzhiwu are also one after another. Consumers are looking at the flowers in the fog, and the labels of some bird’s nest brands "IQ tax" are gradually being taken seriously.
In 2021, online celebrity bird’s nest brand "Xiaoxiandun" was identified as false propaganda by State Administration for Market Regulation, Chaoyang District, Beijing, and fined 200,000 yuan for its use of raw materials, inconsistent production place with propaganda, false production qualification and lack of evidence for "zero addition".
Regarding the fine imposed on State Administration for Market Regulation, Xiaoxiandun responded that this administrative penalty was mainly aimed at Xiaoxiandun’s previous poor publicity in the e-commerce platform, and the relevant public information has been thoroughly investigated and rectified.
In fact, not only Xiaoxian stew, but also the public’s doubts about another bird’s nest brand, Yanzhiwu, have never stopped. In 2021, Yanzhiwu advertised: "I heard that it is better to eat bird’s nest when pregnant." Official website, the State Administration of Market Supervision, shows that the ready-to-eat bird’s nest in Yanzhiwu has not obtained the batch numbers of medicines and health foods, and its business categories are only canned food and beverages.
In April 2022, in the inquiry initiated by CSRC to Yanzhiwu, the nutritional value of bird’s nest, food safety and other issues were the key points. CSRC asked Yanzhiwu to explain the specific propaganda caliber of the company’s advertisements and other related publicity materials, whether there were compliance risks such as false propaganda, and whether the company was subject to administrative punishment.
However, Yanzhiwu did not respond positively to this.
The chaos such as low entry threshold, incomplete consumer cognition, seriously exaggerated nutritional value and huge profits in the industry have filled consumers with many questions when buying bird’s nest.
But in fact, in the bird’s nest industry with a market scale of 10 billion yuan, the bird’s nest brands that are really chosen by the public are not well-known brands such as Yanzhiwu and Xiaoxiandun, but some unknown brands that are hidden under the water and are rarely heard of by individual merchants, Wechat business and self-proclaimed manufacturers.
Without the support of brand reputation, the chaos such as shoddy, chemical bleaching, brushing and gluing is very common in the "underwater market". The chaos in many industries actually reflects the problems that the industry has no clear entry threshold, product quality judgment standards, and lack of quality inspection.
The Yanzhiwu prospectus also mentioned that the threshold of the bird’s nest industry is low, the degree of product standardization is low, there are many small workshops, and the processing mode is prevalent. All practitioners rely on their own retail channels to sell, and the market is very scattered.
These "chaos" also make consumers hesitate when spending bird’s nest. According to the statistics of Magic Mirror Market Intelligence, in Q4 of 2020, the online bird’s nest market in China reached a peak of over 2 billion yuan, and then it went down successively. In the first half of 2022, the sales volume dropped by over 20% year-on-year.
Chinese nourishing industry involved in the "whirlpool" of IQ tax
With the rising consumption of factors such as "face value economy", "self-satisfaction economy" and "health-preserving economy", traditional Chinese nourishing products such as gelatin, medlar and ganoderma lucidum, including bird’s nest, have become the first choice for contemporary young people to supplement their health. According to CBNData’s "New Food Shangism" report, the growth rate of traditional tonics has exceeded 20% for two consecutive years. In the past three years, the post-90s generation has become the backbone of online purchase of traditional nourishing nutrients.
But in fact, whether it’s bird’s nest, flower glue or donkey-hide gelatin cake, frequent "IQ tax" disputes have also involved the "Chinese nourishing" with high hit rate in the "whirlpool" of IQ tax.
For example, instant glue, in recent years, the heat of instant glue continues to rise, and the growth momentum is strong. Merchants promote the nourishing effect and medicinal value of flower glue, which can supplement collagen. Guanzhan, Lizhan and other brands quickly broke into the "health bureau" of young people with "fresh stew in the original bottle" instant gelatin. However, the voice of controversy followed. As the core raw material, fish glue has different quality, different content, different nutritional value and different pricing. As a result, some consumers said that the raw materials used by some gum brands belong to the kind of gum with low nutritional content, which can not play a nourishing role, which is basically equivalent to paying IQ tax when buying it.
On the e-commerce platform, the unit price of instant flower gum ranges from less than 20 yuan per bowl/bottle to more than 70 yuan per bowl/bottle, with a large span. But these goods with different prices and brands may come from the same factory. From the product introduction information of several ready-to-eat rubber products on the market, we found that Guanzhan, Jiaoqu (some products), Chiji, Jiaoqi and Chenshi Nourishing Hall are all manufactured by the same foundry.
At the same time, the controversy over the nutritional value of Ejiao, also a Chinese nourishing giant, has never stopped.
The controversy of "IQ tax" gradually submerged the efficacy of Chinese nourishing, but in fact, is it really that the product itself is IQ tax, or is it that the product is "IQ tax" caused by unscrupulous merchants infinitely magnifying the effect of the product itself for commercial benefits?
Chinese tonic, which has been circulated for thousands of years, is being pushed to the high platform of "IQ tax" by commercial interests. And these disappearing trusts are gradually disintegrating the commercial living space of a single category.
03 Medical Beauty: A Beautiful "Trap"
When we turn our attention to the medical beauty industry at the beginning of the article, the "trap" brought by information asymmetry is also common.
Just like Jiti Factor Biotechnology Co., Ltd. and Guangdong Yutaimei Biotechnology Co., Ltd. exposed at this 3.15 party, according to the enterprise survey APP, they were established only for half a year.
Medical beauty is between medical treatment and consumption, and it is a highly professional and risky industry. However, in fact, illegal institutions, unlicensed doctors, counterfeit products and other industries in the medical beauty industry are rampant now, and micro-plastic surgery of medical beauty is also a potential "dangerous plastic surgery".
In the CCTV 3.15 party in 2022, the chaos of medical beauty training has been pointed out, exposing the problems of medical beauty practitioners with no threshold, quick success and zero foundation.
Ai Media Consulting data shows that the growth rate of non-surgical beauty in China’s medical beauty market is 40%, which is much higher than the growth rate of traditional surgical beauty. The rapid growth has made more people see the market dividend, and for a time, the medical and beauty industry has entered a stage of barbaric development, which is mixed and disorderly.
According to iResearch’s White Paper on Insights into the Medical Beauty Industry in China in 2020, as of 2019, only 14% of institutions in China are legally and compliantly engaged in medical beauty projects, and only 28% are legal medical beauty doctors. On the contrary, the number of "black institutions" exceeds 80,000, which is six times that of compliance institutions. There are more than 100,000 illegal practitioners, and the rate of genuine injections in the market is only 33.3%, that is, one genuine injection is accompanied by at least two illegal injections.
CCTV pointed out that more than 90% of the equipment in illegal medical beauty places are fake, and about 100,000 people are killed and disabled in illegal illegal medical cosmetology every year.
Medical beauty has always been called "the profiteering industry in the field of medical consumption". In recent years, the fiery Light medical cosmetology project has made many medical beauty institutions earn a lot of money and become a good business comparable to Maotai. However, the scale of the medical and beauty industry has been continuously subdivided and expanded, and the barbaric growth has also spawned many industry chaos. The negative reports of the industry, such as making appearance anxiety, driving up project costs, online loan collusion and contract fraud, have emerged one after another, and the medical and beauty industry is consuming the trust of consumers.
The medical beauty industry should be a place to "build dreams" for those who pursue beauty. However, driven by commercial interests, some institutions may be "lucky" for a while and earn high profits, but from the long-term development of the industry, these "original sins" will eventually lead the whole industry into a "wrong path".
Those serious medical and beauty enterprises will eventually become victims of the industry because "bad money drives out good money".
Year after year, the 315 party will always come as scheduled, from fake fragrant rice to medical beauty chaos, all of which are our daily life. As an ordinary person, of course, you can’t feel the charm and interest of business from a macro perspective, but the process of buying goods and consuming itself can give consumers the most direct satisfaction from the spiritual and physical levels.
Just like the theme of this year’s 3.15 party: illuminate consumer confidence with the light of honesty. No matter how business develops, its essence is still the delivery and circulation of value, and the cornerstone behind it is trust. In fact, Tide Business Review always believes that no matter how many controversies are experienced, the power of consumption will always be upward.
"Whether eating or becoming beautiful is a major event in my life. Although I may not be able to eat fragrant rice and make medical beauty recently, rice is more than fragrant rice, and beauty is more than medical beauty. " Lynn said helplessly.
You see, consumers are so cute and business is so charming.
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