Since 2020, China's entire personal care industry has undergone significant changes. Upstream, the main raw materials are derived from petroleum and oils, and the continuous rise in prices of these primary chemical raw materials has created enormous cost pressure. Downstream, affected by the pandemic, consumer shopping demand that was previously distributed across community supermarkets, hypermarkets, traditional e-commerce, and other channels has begun to partially shift to near-field e-commerce O2O, community group buying, and other channels, with channel changes becoming increasingly pronounced. Under such changes, where are the development opportunities for Chinese personal care companies? The answer to this question may be gleaned from the development of Wipro Group. Despite dual pressures from the upstream and downstream markets, Wipro Group has still achieved counter-trend growth, especially its core brand Bafei laundry detergent, whose market share has grown counter-trend for three consecutive years to become the second-largest in South China. What has Wipro Group done? What aspects are worth pondering? I believe the entire industry should pay attention. 1 Deepening 'Intangible Assets': Product Strength and Brand Strength China's market economy has developed for over thirty years, and products have shifted from a state of supply shortage to oversupply. During this process, consumer demands have been changing. In the past, consumers bought products, not caring whether they were branded, as long as they had practical value. Now consumers buy goods, which must possess both product strength and brand strength with cultural attributes. For enterprises, product strength and brand strength are the most important intangible assets, requiring long-term accumulation and precipitation, and are key to building a moat. Take Wipro Group as an example to see how it shapes product strength and brand strength. 【Product Strength】 "Produce high-quality products, produce products consumers trust," has been Wipro Group's consistent commitment to its products. On the production side, the production base was relocated from Zhongshan to the Zengcheng Economic Development Zone, China's youngest national-level economic development zone. At the same time, Wipro invested an additional 76 million yuan in the Zengcheng base to ensure production capacity while delivering the best product quality to consumers. On the consumer side, Ms. Li Yinglin, CEO of Wipro Daily Chemicals China, mentioned, "Wipro Group has always used sharper and more professional insights to provide more diverse consumer groups with better and more convenient life solutions in different consumption scenarios." △Ms. Li Yinglin, CEO of Wipro Daily Chemicals China For example, in clothing care, consumers typically have two needs: clean washing and comfortable wearing. Most laundry products can achieve clean clothes, but the need for comfortable wearing is hard to satisfy. Wipro Group's brand Bafei, targeting this pain point, developed a unique laundry detergent formula containing Softcube soft factor. Natural Malaysian palm oil, cottonseed oil, and silk protein essence can effectively penetrate clothing fibers, protect them from damage, and leave washed clothes not only clean but also as soft and comfortable as silk. Another example, in skin care, each person's skin type is different; some have oily skin, some dry skin, etc. Different skin types require different care methods. Recognizing this need, Wipro Group's brand Yingxue, positioned as "body skin has solutions," launched shower solutions corresponding to different skin types, allowing every consumer to find a suitable body wash. 【Brand Strength】 Product strength is the cornerstone of an enterprise, but no matter how good the product, without brand empowerment, it is difficult to convince consumers to buy. Good products do not automatically become brands; brand strength is the result of enterprises gaining consumer value recognition and responsibility recognition through long-term operations. First is value recognition. Wipro Group has continuously invested in marketing to the younger market, delving into unmet needs of young groups and interesting, substantive value points from opinion leaders. It quickly applied these to product development, successfully launching multiple fragrance-line laundry and fabric care new products such as "Renjian Guihua" and "Dujia Jiyi." Second is responsibility recognition. Wipro Group has been actively fulfilling social responsibilities by establishing green factories, achieving 0 PVC, 0 landfill, reducing plastic and paper, etc., to strengthen environmental protection concepts. During the pandemic, Wipro Group actively acted and took responsibility, leading the company to donate epidemic prevention materials, fully demonstrating its sense of responsibility and mission. 2 Multi-Touchpoint Channels: Going Deeper, Closer, and Newer Brand is the foundation, channels are key. The essence of goods is from producer to consumer, which must be realized through channels. The marketing theory of "channels are king" remains relevant today. The only difference is that China's distribution channels have undergone tremendous changes and transformations in the past decade. From familiar traditional channels, modern channels, to e-commerce, to new retail, various new models are constantly emerging, and the entire channel is continuously layering and differentiating. In an era of channel diversification and fragmentation, brand owners face higher requirements in channel construction. Not only must they stabilize the basic market of existing channels, but they must also explore increments from new channels. An omni-channel, multi-touchpoint layout strategy, with high integration of online and offline, has become a strategy that enterprises must grasp for business growth. Wipro Group understands this well and strategically proposed the channel strategy of "going deeper, closer, and newer" to upgrade the entire channel and reach and serve more consumers. Going Deeper: Continuously sinking to lower-tier markets to establish distribution advantages. In offline channels, Wipro Group has always valued the development of distributors, not only providing resource support but also empowering distributors in marketing. It actively helps distributors explore lower-tier markets, guides them in building local flagship stores, and systematically upgrades the store image, distribution efficiency, and product operations of the two major categories. Going Closer: Focusing on near-field points of sale such as community stores and convenience stores to provide one-stop solutions. Near-field points of sale are generally located near areas with high foot traffic, with small areas but many stores, meeting consumers' immediate consumption needs, typically such as community small stores and convenience stores. Behind near-field retail, the biggest variable is consumers, as consumption needs and behaviors have changed. The core is the combination of scenarios and products, based on consumer group analysis, investing different product mixes in specific scenarios. It is precisely by recognizing this that Wipro Group continues to deeply cultivate near-field points of sale such as community stores and convenience stores, deeply understanding consumer needs, and providing one-stop solutions. For example, in terms of products, Bafei, Yingxue, Huashijie, Zicai, and other multi-category, multi-brand combinations enter the market to provide consumers with the best choices. Going Newer: Focusing on changes in consumption scenarios, developing new channels such as e-commerce, O2O, and community group buying. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2021, national online retail sales increased by 14.1% year-on-year, of which physical goods online retail sales increased by 12%, with a two-year average growth of 13.4%, significantly higher than offline consumption. Undoubtedly, online has become one of the mainstream consumption channels. Especially affected by the pandemic, new consumption represented by online shopping has shown strong vitality and convenience advantages. Wipro Group has followed this trend, accelerating its layout in e-commerce and new retail, formulating a series of product promotion and purchase incentive policies in O2O, EC, community group buying, live-stream e-commerce, and other channels. It has also achieved good results: Wipro Daily Chemicals (Guangdong) Group won the JD Daojia Best Brand Award in 2021, achieved O2O doubling, community group buying single-platform GMV exceeding 10 million, and e-commerce three-year compound growth rate exceeding high double digits. At the same time, to deeply implement the "going deeper, closer, and newer" channel strategy, Wipro Group has also completed a systematic upgrade on the supply chain side, from R&D to logistics supply, capable of meeting large-scale orders and DTC customization needs. 3 Summary In the past, enterprise growth relied more on demographic dividends, economic dividends, and industry growth dividends under population and economy. But when dividends diminish and the economy slows, what drives enterprise growth? It is whether enterprises can build their own moats in the existing market. For a brand, the moat core is reflected in two aspects: brand and channels. Wipro Group's construction of brand and channels, as well as its achievements in recent years, precisely verifies this point. I believe that under the dual-wheel drive of "brand + channels," in the uncertain 2022, Wipro Group can develop further.