Perfect diary was founded in 2016 by Huang Jinfeng, former chief operating officer of Lianfeng (300740:sz). Perfect diary has successfully created a best seller and considerable sales growth by launching a middle-level KOL on xiaohongshu and establishing a target traffic pool on the wechat operation platform. It has become a rising star among cosmetics start-ups. On the night of tmall.com 618 in 2019, the perfect diary became the first beauty product in terms of sales volume, with a sales growth rate of 1193%.

Overview of China's beauty market

Since 2018, it has become a trend to choose domestic beauty products in China. Suddenly, several brands were launched and spread rapidly, including the most famous ones such as the perfect diary, flora and Judy doll.

The 2019 insight report on domestic cosmetics in China shows that more than 42% of consumers prefer to choose domestic cosmetics. More than 60% of the people are eager to buy products again after trying Chinese cosmetics brands for the first time. However, despite the rapid growth of China's beauty market, the penetration rate is still very low - the main customers are from the first and second tier cities. The average consumption of cosmetics is only 1% of that of the United States, Japan and South Korea.

In addition, Chinese beauty brands still adopt the low price strategy, which makes it difficult to gain a foothold in the high-end market.

Perfect diary may be listed in Hong Kong

According to informed sources, Yatsen, the parent company of PD manual, has selected Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to prepare for its initial IPO, and plans to go public at the end of this year or early 2021. The company has considered listing in Hong Kong, but has not yet made a decision. The perfect diary did not confirm this story, nor did it want to disclose relevant information about this rumor.

Since this year, the perfect diary has made frequent moves in the capital market. In April this year, a new round of financing of US $100million was completed. This round of financing was led by Tiger global management, followed by Hopu fund and Boyu capital.

The rise of "Internet l'or é Al" in China

Since the establishment of perfect diary, huangjinfeng has established his own ambition within the company - essentially to build China's l'or é al. Perfect diary is undoubtedly a superstar in China's beauty market. It has more than 20million online fans and has successfully become the cosmetics brand with the largest number of fans. Behind the glory, the success of the perfect diary implies a shrewd ability to seize the opportunity of rapid change.

Responsive and creative digital marketing - it is no exaggeration to say that marketing has created today's perfect diary. However, we would like to discuss two unique marketing strategies brought about by the perfect diary. The following two methods have really changed the rules of the game:

1) Develop private transportation. Private traffic means developing a sticky customer base through public platforms. Private traffic is unique to Chinese brands. Chinese consumers are less likely to visit the official website of the brand or use e-mail at work, which is very different from the situation that American consumers often visit their favorite brands to check discounts or check promotional activities in e-mail.

The perfect diary has a beauty IP called "xiaowanjia". Scanning the QR code when purchasing their products will increase customers. In this way, IP will establish a wechat group and recommend products according to customers' needs. By using this active account to establish a wechat community, the perfect diary can ensure that customers are more likely to buy products repeatedly under the perfect diary, or even try new products.

2) Promote the middle and lower reaches of KOL. From the highest to the lowest popularity, their endorsement ratio is 1:1:3:46:100:150. Such a strategy will help the advertisement of the perfect diary to be more persuasive and more naturally build a community centered on young people. Customers' views on the perfect diary product are disseminated through detailed notes and quick replies in the online sharing community, which is another innovative marketing method of the perfect diary.

However, it is also important to acknowledge that advertising strategies can be easily replicated. Some large international brands have also started to use similar programs, and like PD, they have launched makeup notes on the little red book. In addition, the timing of finding the next popular platform is also crucial. The perfect diary missed the early stage of advertising with short videos such as tiktok.