"What are the key demands and opportunity trends in the 'She Economy'? | SEAMATE No. 107"

Overview

Every March, we organize discussions about the "Global She Economy." Over the past few years, we've talked about the journeys of female entrepreneurs and the growth of apps targeting women. This year, we've seen great news from various markets such as the United States, Southeast Asia, and Japan. In different sectors like fashion and beauty, the "She Economy" has shone brightly. What evolutions will occur this year in the female-oriented user and market landscape? What are the important needs and trend changes that will affect the future? What are some successful cases? How can new retail technologies combine with social media and female users to provide a greater boost to the industry? This time, we've partnered with Early Global Expansion to discuss these topics. Below is the publicly shareable part of our discussion.

Core Topics

Part 1

The current situation and growth trends of female consumers in the global market

Part 2

What are the evolutions of female consumers' demands in different markets?

Part 3

How new retail technology can better meet industry needs?

Part 1

Amiro Beauty Founder & CEO, Dyson:

I actually see three major trends in the global female market. First, the scope of female consumer sectors is continuously expanding. As women's status and purchasing power rise, the female market has become an important part of the economy. We're seeing a proliferation of products and services targeting women, presenting good opportunities in fashion, beauty, health, sports, and technology fields. I believe the consumption potential of the female market is continuously being unleashed, gradually becoming a massive consumer market. Second, we feel that women's consumption habits are constantly changing. With the advancement of digitization and the development of the internet, there's a significant shift in the consumption habits of the female market, such as a preference for online shopping, short video shopping, and even trying live shopping on platforms like TikTok. Previously, product awareness came from print media and television advertisements. Now, social media short videos have become an important front for recognizing and understanding new products. Third, women's consumption concepts are continuously upgrading. Women may not only value the practicality and cost-effectiveness of products but are now also starting to pay attention to the quality, brand, and cultural connotation of products. So, I believe that, moving forward, brands looking to succeed in the female market need to continuously innovate their products and services and also need to effectively tell their brand stories, evoking emotional resonance among users. These are the new changes I feel are occurring in the female market. In terms of trends, we find that TikTok is doing quite well: if you want to see what new opportunities there are, check it out to see which product categories are expanding quickly. For instance, we see the beauty, personal care, maternal and child products, and even toys and home goods sectors on TikTok revealing many brands, suggesting these trends might be: on one hand, the platform's active participation, and on the other, more brands finding their positioning and business opportunities in these directions.

Part 2

Xiruo Guo, Founder and CEO of Moco Japanese Beauty:

We have always focused on the Japanese market, specifically in the major beauty segment, so we have actually communicated with Bryan and Dyson. In terms of Japan, I feel that there have been some significant changes in recent years. The main change is that they are more willing to accept new foreign brands, and not just from China, but also from Korea, Thailand, including brands from our Taiwan region. Why is there such a change? It mainly focuses on young users aged fifteen to twenty-five or twenty-six, who are eager to explore more new products, which is also what we call a love for novelty. Based on this, Chinese brands actually have many opportunities, including achieving some good results in the Japanese market. However, as Bryan mentioned earlier, the entire Japanese market requires us to combine the local business environment, from online to offline, to the use of new media, to harvest information. It's not like in China where you can use a super APP or a major media outlet to complete our entire information collection.

I think the user journey in Japan is very similar to North America. So, many brands value independent sites highly when entering the Japanese market. Of course, for Chinese brands going global and setting up independent sites, it's relatively still early days, so our approach might start with third-party platforms like J-Asia, Rakuten, Qoo10, and then, once we have built some confidence, start considering offline channels. This is the current stage for most of our brands in Japan. Going forward, we are looking forward to Chinese brands fully blossoming in all three dimensions, which will allow us to more practically handle the localization operation of the entire Japanese market. We are also considering whether there are new opportunities in the Japanese market. Based on our 3-4 years of operation experience, the Japanese market is definitely worth giving another go. Everyone always says Japan is a big beauty country, but actually, it's a big country in many segments. However, through some of our product features, overall marketing tactics, including our focus on young users' strategies, I think there are quite a few opportunities, so we will continue to pay attention to the overseas expansion of Chinese brands."

Part 3

Xiaohongshu (RED) E-commerce Manager, Xinran:

From its current development, Xiaohongshu is still focusing more on domestic users or Chinese people overseas. From today's discussion, Xiaohongshu could partly assist brands in targeting users overseas, as currently, over 70% of its users are female, with more than half being born after 1990. This is not only limited to domestic users. In fact, many Chinese people who have gone abroad for education or immigration constitute a significant user base. Thus, some brands use Xiaohongshu to first lock in overseas Chinese users. Platforms like ours are generally suitable for non-standard categories, such as clothing and home goods, including collectibles with a sense of design and beauty, which are relatively non-standard and less sensitive to price changes. This could be particularly helpful for brands looking to expand overseas. Moreover, we've noticed that Xiaohongshu's female users are consistently interested in topics like weight loss, slimming, and anti-aging, which could also support the mentioned categories. From my personal experience working in the North American and Southeast Asian markets 6-8 years ago, the demands in these markets are quite similar to those of domestic female users, such as how to maintain a good figure and anti-aging strategies, which I believe are common interests among women worldwide. However, Chinese food products have always faced stringent auditing requirements, including the rules and regulations of various countries, which are quite strict. This is a brief share of my thoughts. Xiaohongshu has attempted to expand overseas in the past without much success, but I believe that given the platform's DNA, especially its penetration among overseas Chinese, there will still be some potential for expansion in the future.

If you have ideas about new sectors, new content, new ecosystems, or new products for the Globalization Business community, and you wish to participate in our co-creation and document maintenance, please leave your name and avatar at the end of this document and contact [email protected].

Note organizer: Sunny