It is often said that money is easily made from women and children. Recently, water giant Nongfu Spring has also started selling skincare products. On November 26, Yangshengtang launched three moisturizing skincare products made from birch sap, including face masks, refreshing toner, and nourishing toner. It is reported that this is not a simple trial for Nongfu Spring in skincare; in 2018, Nongfu Spring will successively launch product lines such as essences and creams. In addition to the Chinese market, it will also enter Japan for sales in the future. Nongfu Spring Chairman and General Manager Zhong Shanshan stated today that the company's goal is to rank among the top five cosmetics brands in scale within five years, and to compete for the first place in quality. Nongfu Spring's skincare products include face masks with an average price of over 30 yuan It is understood that these three cosmetics are not processed in China; all raw materials come from abroad, and there is no production workshop in China yet. All three products are imported from Japan, produced by a Japanese SC company. In addition, the birch sap raw material comes from Finland in Europe, the pump heads are made in France, and the mask fabric comes from the United States, among others. Regarding the research and development process of skincare products, Nongfu Spring Chairman Zhong Shanshan revealed that in fact, people had hoped for Nongfu Spring to launch moisturizing products long ago. "We have no doubt about our direction; our products are disruptive." As the leader in drinking water, Nongfu Spring currently has eight major water sources across the country, including Qiandao Lake in Zhejiang, Wanlv Lake in Guangdong, and Changbai Mountain in Jilin. However, it is understood that the moisturizing cosmetics launched this time will not use any water from the above eight major water sources because "the formula does not add a drop of water; birch sap is used to replace water entirely." It is understood that research from Nongfu Spring's subsidiary Yangshengtang claims that in general cosmetics, including face masks, the first ingredient is water, with 80-90% of the content being pure water without nutrition, meaning the effective ingredients are only 10-20%. By completely replacing water with birch sap, the entire bottle is effective ingredients, providing better moisturizing effects. Public data shows that birch trees are widely distributed in the alpine regions of Eurasia, and are also common in Northeast China. Birch sap is rich in various vitamins, 18 amino acids, 11 fatty acids, and 18 trace elements needed by the human body and skin, including the antioxidant nutrient selenium and bioactive minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Birch sap has a very high water content. In Northern and Eastern Europe, birch sap is widely used in beauty and body care, as well as in winemaking and medicine. In fact, the issue that most of the content in general cosmetics is water has been widely criticized by consumers before. Many big-brand sprays are not as good as a two-yuan bottle of mineral water. Zhong Shanshan also "attacked" some big brands today, saying that Nongfu Spring's research team went deep into places like Naqu in Tibet and Changbai Mountain to study various local mineral waters, and found that different water sources have no significant effect on skin hydration. "Packaging a concept to sell high-profit but actually ineffective products is not what Nongfu Spring does," Zhong Shanshan criticized, pointing out that the current domestic cosmetics industry is still in price competition, with very little innovation. According to Zhong Shanshan, the research and development of these three skincare products took more than three years, with the most troublesome and difficult challenge being the collection of birch sap, because there is no experience for large-scale industrial collection of birch sap. In Eastern and Northern Europe, although birch sap is widely used, large-scale industrial centralized collection and production have not been achieved, and traditional collection methods mainly rely on intensive manual labor. "Our collection volume in Finland reached 400 tons at one time, possibly the first time in the world that such a large-scale centralized collection has been carried out," Zhong Shanshan introduced. Personnel management and quality control are great challenges for large-scale industrial collection of birch sap. Currently, Yangshengtang's Finnish supplier has developed a modern sap collection process, making large-scale collection of birch sap possible. Regarding environmental and sustainability concerns, Zhong Shanshan also stated that they strictly comply with local forest protection regulations and respect the growth patterns of birch forests, and will not affect the birch forests. Nongfu Spring Chairman Says Strive to Enter Top 5 Cosmetics Brands Within 5 Years As is well known, the domestic skincare market is huge, but it also brings fierce competition. There are numerous brands and products, and brand concepts emerge endlessly. Moreover, international daily chemical giants dominate the market, making it difficult for local brands to survive. Many brands are short-lived, and listed companies are rare. As a "newcomer" to the market, what is the prospect for Nongfu Spring to enter skincare? Moreover, from the perspective of price, which consumers are sensitive to, these three products are not cheap among domestic skincare brands; they are in the mid-to-high price range. Regarding the prospects of skincare products, Nongfu Spring Chairman Zhong Shanshan is confident. He said that since launching Duo'er beauty capsules, Nongfu Spring has been conducting basic research on cosmetics for more than 17 years, and has now established a dedicated cosmetics company. It also cooperates with Xiamen University, and the uniqueness of the products cannot be replicated by any company in the short term. Zhong Shanshan told Sina Finance that Nongfu Spring's goal is "to enter the top five cosmetics brands in China within five years, with quality ranking first and scale ranking in the top five." As a newcomer to the cosmetics industry, where does Nongfu Spring get its confidence? Zhong Shanshan said it relies on a scientific attitude, research depth, existing technological level, and accumulated strength. "Our goal is not to be the first in China, but to compete with all international cosmetics companies in quality. As long as we enter a field, the products we launch must be the first under existing standards; none of our products are second," he said. Regarding sales expectations for skincare products, no targets have been set; sales are placed second, but he believes sales will not be a problem. As for how to overcome consumers' "worship of foreign things" in the cosmetics field, Zhong Shanshan believes that this challenge cannot be overcome in a day, but it is not difficult either, "because consumers are not stupid; everyone will try. Our products are not 100% suitable for everyone, but they are definitely suitable for most people." Zhong Shanshan said that currently, foreign cosmetics brands dominate the domestic market, and domestic brands should work together to break this situation. "In the beverage industry, I can say that Coca-Cola follows my lead, not I follow yours, but in the cosmetics field, we do not have the confidence to say such words. Now we have set a high-challenge goal for ourselves to benchmark against foreign brands." In recent years, Nongfu Spring has been trying to cross boundaries, including planting oranges and launching cosmetics. Regarding more cross-border possibilities in the future, Zhong Shanshan responded, "As long as there is market demand and we have accumulated enough, we will enter immediately, especially in the agricultural field." -END-