Encountering category bottlenecks. "Floral dew is heavy, grass smoke is low, people's curtains hang down." - This line by Ouyang Xiu describing spring scenery gave rise to the household name "floral water" (Hu Lu Shui). From the first bottle of "Double Sister" brand floral water produced by Guangsheng Hang (predecessor of Shanghai Jahwa) in 1905 to the now-famous "Liushen", floral water has become a summer cosmetic market hit due to its effects of clearing heat, preventing prickly heat, repelling mosquitoes, and relieving itching. A senior cosmetics industry insider stated that as a relatively marginalized category in the cosmetics field, the current market size of floral water is approximately 2 billion yuan. It's the season for floral water to be prominently displayed again. What are the characteristics of this year's market? Products: Infant-specific products dominate Xiao Xiao (WeChat ID: Qingyan) visited some supermarkets, cosmetics stores, and pharmacies in Wuhan, and also learned from e-commerce channels such as Tmall that as a daily chemical product with low user expectations, it is difficult for floral water to achieve breakthroughs in technology and craftsmanship. Some common brands in the current market are beginning to seek opportunities in consumer segmentation and marketing concepts. Besides traditional floral water, there are also infant-specific, perfume-type, and deodorant-type products. Among them, infant-specific floral water mainly features herbal natural extracts, with effects focusing on mosquito repellent, anti-itching, and prickly heat prevention. In products with mosquito repellent effects, the content of mosquito repellent ester and DEET is also lower than adult versions. For example, the mosquito repellent ester content of "Liushen Baby Mosquito Repellent Floral Water" and "Yumeijing Cedar Mosquito Repellent Floral Water" is labeled as 2.8% and 1.8% respectively, while adult versions are usually around 5%. Xiao Xiao's visits found that infant-specific floral water sold in supermarkets and cosmetics stores mainly includes common brands such as Liushen, Baobao Jinshui, Yumeijing, Frog Prince, Crocodile Baby, Little Raccoon, and Aihao. On Tmall, there are over 80 brands of infant and child floral water, mostly maternal and infant brands, with Baobao Jinshui Children's Herbal Floral Water having the highest monthly sales of 1,603 units. Compared to infant-specific products that emphasize safety, perfume-type floral water mainly targeting female consumers emphasizes fragrance and highlights the distinction of top, middle, and base notes, promoting the concept of "oriental floral water with natural herbs and traditional craftsmanship". Brands such as Longliqi and Chunjuan have launched such products. In terms of fragrance, besides enhanced fragrance, there is also the "deodorant type" floral water promoted by Liushen, claiming to effectively remove body odor and sweat odor, which to some extent caters to the needs of most male consumers. Li Huiliang, former technical director of Shanghai Jahwa, believes that due to the special nature of infant skin and greater summer protection needs compared to adults, the development prospects for infant summer care products are quite promising. "Brands planning to enter the floral water market can also break through from this aspect." Brands: Liushen and Longliqi dominate In the Zhongbai Supermarket Tongle Plaza store on Wuhan's Jing'an Road visited by Xiao Xiao, the six floral water brands on sale were Liushen, Longliqi, Laoma Ruhe, Baique Ling, Frog Prince, and Baobao Jinshui. Among them, Liushen and Longliqi had 17 and 7 SKUs respectively, accounting for 53% and 22% of all floral water SKUs in the store. At Nanhu Garden Walmart and Carrefour, adult floral water brands were exclusively Liushen and Longliqi, while Nanhu Today convenience store and Haoyao Shi Pharmacy Jing'an Road store each had only one Liushen classic floral water on sale. Overall, the number of floral water SKUs in cosmetics store channels is relatively small, with Liushen and Longliqi accounting for a higher proportion. A person in charge of a Guizhou cosmetics chain store said that sales of floral water in cosmetics stores are still low, and introducing related products is basically for the completeness of the category. When introducing products, they focus on the needs of young female consumers, such as portable perfume-type floral water and infant-specific floral water. Online channels also show similar characteristics. Taking Tmall as an example, although there are over 150 floral water brands on sale, the top 20 products by monthly sales are all occupied by Liushen and Longliqi. Among them, the best-selling product is Longliqi Portable Deluxe Mosquito Repellent Floral Water, with monthly sales of 30,000 units. Shanghai Jahwa's 2016 financial report shows that Liushen currently holds a 73.5% share of the floral water market. From the reporter's visits, Longliqi's performance is also quite impressive, seemingly supporting the floral water market together with Liushen. Why is it difficult to break through? Overall, although the floral water category has a long history, from the overall market perspective, there are few breakthrough brands and products. In the filing system of the China Food and Drug Administration, there are 1,065 filing records with "floral water" in the product name, which is significantly fewer compared to other categories. Li Huiliang believes that currently, Liushen and Longliqi occupy a large share of the floral water market. In recent years, other beauty brands have also launched floral water products, but most are based on the strategic need to expand product categories. "Most brands' strategic attitude towards the floral water market is to give up." In Li Huiliang's view, as a sub-category of daily chemical products, the market size of floral water is inherently limited. Moreover, with the improvement of people's living standards and the diversification of daily chemical products, the growth of market demand for floral water will gradually slow down. In addition, from a technical perspective, although the production process of floral water is relatively simple, the initial investment is large. First, because the ingredients contain a high concentration of ethanol, the production of floral water requires high explosion-proof requirements for factories; second, the gross margin of floral water is low, so large-scale production is needed to ensure returns. However, based on its nature as a seasonal product, ensuring large-scale sales within two to three months requires extensive channel resources, which is obviously a considerable challenge for most brands. Source: Qingyan (ID: qingyanwh) -END-