It's really hard to say what I've done in these years. I only know that I wanted to hide this experience forever and never mention it again, because I didn't get any sense of accomplishment after doing a lot of miscellaneous things, because many things were forced to do and were not recognized. However, after all, it was my past experience, which was part of my experience, so I sketched out what I had done in these years.
In 214, the year after I graduated from college, I was 25 years old. I didn't have any work experience, and I didn't know how to run a business, let alone how to manage the company's operating personnel. Anyway, I was just a young girl who just entered the society. Under such circumstances, my ex-husband and I boldly came to Guangzhou from Kunming to participate in the Pazhou Beauty Expo in March, which was the largest daily necessities fair in China. We came into contact with a new soap product-pure natural essential oil handmade soap, which attracted us for the following reasons:
1. Most of the original soap products in the market were low-end soaps, and the average price was within 1 yuan, while the high-end market was blank at that time, so we saw business opportunities from here.
2: At present, the bath products on the market are mainly shower gel and soap. Although shower gel is the first choice for most people, there are also a group of loyal users of soap, and we are mainly positioned in high-end handmade soap.
3: The use experience of soap and shower gel is completely different, and shower gel is usually difficult to rinse off after washing, which has a false and slippery feeling; Soap is clean and thorough, but it is prone to dry skin after use. Essential oil handmade soap makes up for the weaknesses of the former two. Its rich and delicate foam can clean the skin well, and gentle plant essential oil components and high oil play a moisturizing role. Even a piece of handmade soap can meet the needs of bathing, washing and shaving at the same time. Because of these advantages, we decided to create a handmade soap brand.
all these decisions were made in ignorance and luck, which led to the further development!
I came to Guangzhou alone in April, 214, and planned to work here. At that time, I lived in a Home Inn near Jiangxia subway station in Baiyun District, Guangzhou. The next day I arrived here, I began to feel uncomfortable. My whole body was allergic to measles, and my whole body was extremely itchy. However, I insisted on going to the hospital for treatment while looking for a place to live. In a week, I settled down my place and warehouse, but it took me two weeks to find measles.
after I found a place to live, I started to work formally. First, I bought all kinds of soap products in physical stores, Taobao, and counters to try them out, and collected the products with the best feeling. At that time, the high-end soap brands in the domestic market mainly included Roland, Hongbeiti, Ruohua, etc., but the products were similar and didn't make me feel novel. The most significant reference for me is the domestic counter Stanlan, which is an imported brand. The average price of their soap products is 7 yuan RMB per 1g, and there are many categories, and the products are full of color, fragrance and taste, giving people a feeling of appreciating art. From this brand, I drew a lot of inspiration, strived to get closer to their quality, and finally decided on the positioning of our products at 25–3 yuan/1g.
however, their disadvantage is that they are sold now in the form of counters in shopping malls. All products are not packaged, which is not convenient for storage and cannot be expanded rapidly in the short term. Therefore, we choose shopping malls, supermarkets, KA stores, cosmetics boutiques, convenience chains and other channels to copy and sell in the form of fast-selling products.
We registered a company in Guangzhou on April 23, 214. At the same time, we invited a designer from Beijing to design the logo trademark, and a designer from Guangzhou to design the packaging flower box. There is no shortcut to design this work. I can only describe the feeling and aesthetics I need, and then realize it through the designer's methods. I feel that not everyone can correctly understand this kind of thing. Designers are required to have a very keen sense of perception and * * * emotional ability. In order to make designers better get what I mean, I also collect all kinds of inspiring patterns, elements and styles on the Internet or in physical stores, and give them to designers for reference as long as they are the feelings I need. As for the product style, I initially referred to two brands, lush and Ousudan in the UK, and finally it took about two months to revise and change, and the logo and packaging were all implemented.
at the same time as the designer designs, I have to edit the copy on the box, take the name of each product, write the text description of each product, and often stay up until two or three in the morning. The copy is written and handed over to the designer for typesetting.
after the packaging design is completed, it is necessary to print, find the printing factory, communicate with the engineers of the printing factory repeatedly, select the required paper quality and packaging technology, and finally draw up a scheme for proofing. Only after the samples pass can the finished packaging boxes be mass-produced.
when I was in charge of the design work here, my ex-husband's main job was to find a suitable soap processing factory. At first, we didn't have factory resources, and the first person I met to produce soap products was at the US Expo in March. Later, after a while, more people knew this circle. For example, the printing factory that produces packaging boxes will have a lot of factory resources, the factory that produces plastic absorption will also have resources, and the factory that produces cartons will also have resources. They can all introduce each other, so this aspect is not a problem. In the end, we select factories that meet the requirements in all aspects for screening, and let the factories make the samples we need, and the ones that meet our needs finally become partners.
I am solely responsible for tracking the quality of our products, and I have decided the formula, shape, model, color and fragrance type of the products. The most complicated part of this process lies in the choice of fragrance type, because there are grades and styles of fragrance, and an elegant taste will make consumers linger, so I immersed myself in the fragrance, and selected 17 fragrance samples that meet my own taste in one month. Then I found a mold factory and built four abrasives. The sample of the product was revised repeatedly and finally finalized.
Then you can place an order for the factory to make goods. Before making goods, you need to prepare all the raw materials. At this time, I observed that there are still some raw materials that are not ready, such as the plastic-absorbing inner support and carton to protect the soap body, so I kept designing cartons and plastic-absorbing inner support, and then entered the preparation stage of producing goods. Through the introduction of the soap processing factory, I found the carton factory and plastic-absorbing factory.
when all the working procedures were ready, I placed an order with the soap processing factory. It was already September 214. As it was the first time to make goods, I had no experience and I was not sure whether it would be smooth to put them on the market later. Therefore, the quantity of these goods was not large, and the whole warehouse added up to more than 2, goods (ex-factory price). At that time, my ex-husband was in charge of Yunnan-Guizhou market in Sofitel Company, so we sold out all these goods through Yunnan-Guizhou market.
in p>215, I mainly stayed in Guangzhou to be responsible for the production of goods, procurement of various raw materials and accessories, quality tracking, receiving orders, inventory statistics, warehouse management, logistics and other work, and was responsible for coordinating the operation of the whole internal work. This year, soap brands swarmed. The most important thing was that a "Chinese God Soap" endorsed by Fan Bingbing exploded in the circle of friends on WeChat, which raised some popularity for the category of essential oil handmade soap. Many people have begun to know about this product. Coupled with our unique design and high-quality product experience, our sales volume and market have been expanded this year! As the Chinese God Soap is a Wechat business channel, it does not conflict with our offline store. However, this year, too many brands counterfeit Chinese God Soap, and many people made a sum of money by scratching the ball. The Chinese God Soap was 7g/piece, with a retail price of 128 yuan/piece, and the profit can be imagined.
and we always insist on being independent, not imitating anyone, and we have also gained many loyal customers. Although it didn't become an instant hit like Chinese God Soap, it made steady progress. Until 216, Chinese God Soap made enough money and ran away, and so did the imitators. Those brands that started with us also changed their careers, only we still persisted!
Not only did I not give up, but I also saw greater business opportunities to cater to consumers' tastes. Most consumers in China like imported products, so we registered another company in Hong Kong in 216, and then boldly imagined to specialize in imported soaps under the name of this company. The previous set of products was only at the same level as the domestic level, but did not fully reach the high-end level in my mind. So, I decided to set up another set of products to meet the international standards and had this idea. Immediately began to implement, and all the tedious work in front of me was repeated again. This time, unlike last time, the requirements for product quality and packaging design were higher, with the aim of highlighting the sense of value. All the spices used before should be replaced with genuine essential oils, and the copywriting was all made in English.
During this period, I went to South Korea for inspiration, visited all the major shopping malls and supermarkets in Seoul, bought a large number of products for reference, and finally signed a contract with a Korean designer to start a long design road.
at this moment, I became pregnant, and the work of new products was temporarily stopped, because daily necessities would inevitably come into contact with some chemical raw materials, so I didn't continue to develop new products for the sake of the fetus. However, I am still responsible for all the work of the old products, and the market of the old products is still expanding year by year. In the middle of the year, I went back to Guilin University to recruit a group of interns to go to various customers to do promotional activities, and also designed a brochure of our products. The aesthetics and style of this brochure are under my control, and the words on it are also written by me. The level is limited, so I can only have a casual look. Just take a look at some pictures of the brochure below.
After giving birth in p>216, I continued to find the former Korean designer, officially started the development of new products, and specially found an English teacher in my university to help me translate the copy. I personally tried all kinds of essential oils, chose the most comfortable and elegant one, and changed to a better factory, all of which used genuine high-end raw materials, which improved the quality of products, strived to be gentle enough for babies to clean with their eyes open without stimulating effects, so that the factory produced samples that met my requirements, and finally all the requirements were met.
by the end of p>217, the packaging design was completed, and the product samples of 19 items in 4 series were finalized, and then the single production was non-stop, and the first batch of new products were put into storage as scheduled. The following pictures are the elimination schemes when designing new products.
Later, due to emotional changes, I resolutely abandoned everything I had paid before, and then I went back to Guilin. Throughout 218, I never participated in the previous business again. In these years, I stayed alone in Guangzhou and took full charge of all aspects of the operation of the Guangzhou base camp. In the end, I said that I was cleared, but I was not good at it. I never felt solid about living by luck, and now I can finally be grounded. The following pictures are the final draft of the selected new product design.