XIAOYUE YUAN -portfolio

FASION MANAGEMENT

P O R O P R TT FF O O LL II O O 2021 XIAOYUE YUAN

Brand Design Project - Fashion Jewelry Brand : Young ZOO - Designer : Xiaoyue Yuan

Project Background The purpose of this project is to combine the content from undergraduate studies with the potential research fields of graduate studies. This project is mainly concerned with the establishment of a Chinese jewelry designer brand and to do a series of research and analysis on the jewelry brand markets. Eventually, I aim at the completion of a planning that is visionary for the brand. Therefore, the project will be framed from the perspective of the founder and will examine thoroughly through every step along the way of the establishment.

The project will cover each of the following section: 1. China jewelry market analysis 2. Competitor study 3. Poter’s 5 forces of creating a jewelry brand in China 4. Brand strategy

Market Analysis

Chinese Jewelry Industry Is Expanding R a p i d l y, A n d Tr a n s f o r m i n g f r o m Quantity - Oriented to Quality- Oriented

Market size and trend of China's jewelry Industry from 2010 to 2020 (Unit: 100 million yuan, %) 10000

30

28.25

9000

8742

23.4

8000 19.21

7000 6000

5605 5674

5000 3810

4000

6134

6528

7372

20 15

4542

10

2957 7.03

Market Size(100 Million RMB)

6.7

5.85

5.85

1

5

18 年

0 20 19 E 20 20 E

20

20

20

14 年

20

13 年

20

12 年

20

11 年

20

10 年 20

15 年

1.23

0

20

1000

6.42

17 年

2000

16 年

3000

6073

6965

25

The Year-on-Year Growth Rate

ith With the growing purchase power of consumers of 1980 to 2000 W generation, they have become the mainstream consumption group in China.

Different from the previous generation, "getting married " is no longer the main reason for this generation to buy jewelry, but daily wearing is dominating buying reason of the market (Jiemian, 2018).

China's jewelry industry market scale is expected to reach 874.2 billion yuan in 2022 (Qianzhan, 2020). In the long run, Chinese jewelry industry is going through the transformation from quantity growth way to growth way of quality. Brand effect gradually increased, and the industry concentration ratio also climbed up.

Personalized consumption category which represented by jewelry accessories is expected to continue to grow rapidly (Jiemian, 2018). This phenomenon suggests that after years of obsolescence and renewal in the jewelry industry, the soft power other than the price has been emphasized, and the soft power here includes product design, brand culture, service etc ...

With the growth of personal income and consumption power, the industry will maintain a long-term boom. However, with the maturity of consumers and the diversification of jewelry market, the designer-brand jewelry will be an important point of the future development.

Ma An

Market Driving Factor I: - The Rise of Middle Class, Increase of Disposable Income, Consumption Upgrading The magnitude of China’s middle-class growth is transforming the nation.

Share of urban households, % 100%=256million 3

357million

14

9

54

54

29 2012

Urban private consumption, 1% 10,048 Billion renminbi 11

26,804 billion renminbi

10.3

20

25

19.6

54

56

22.4

22 16

16

2022

2012

Poor

Mass middle class

Upp er middle clas s

Affluent

Projected growth of private consumption, CAGR,2012-22,%

14

5

-3.3 -1.5

2022

Market Driving Factor II: - Millennials Become The Main Consumer he main consumers in Chinese society are now millennials and Generation T Z consumers, and most of whom were the only child in their families and were

brought up in a relatively rich society. They are confident and independent and are determined to demonstrate this independence through consumption (Deloitte, 2021). Because their parents have experienced the shortage-supply era and strove for the economic security, eventually these people became the first middle class generation in China. Apart from austere spending with their parents, this generation is now willing to spend a bigger portion of the family income that will please themselves, and jewelry is obviously on the list. Under family support, Millennials can afford designers’ jewelry. Millennials and Generation Z consumers are willing to try new things, with high acceptance of design-conscious niche designers’ brands and are more likely to buy from these designers’ brands than other aged groups (Mckinsey, 2013). These consumers seek emotional satisfaction through high taste and niche products, and they are loyal to the brands they trust (Deloitte, 2021). By 2020, Chinese generation Z has taken up 40% of the total consumption power, among which 58.13% of post-90s consumers have bought products of Chinese designers’ jewelry brands (iiMedia, 2020). In the future era when post-90s and post-00s consumers dominate consumption, they will be the driving force of Chinese designers’ jewelry brands.

56.27

ith the prospective of China's economic rapid growth, the scale of China W middle class has increased dramatically. Mckinsey (2013) predicted that China's

upper middle class in 2022 will account for 54% of its society, compared to 14% in 2012. The number of rich people in China also increased from 3% to 9%. The rise of the middle class brought the sharp increase of HNWIs and people's consumption.

Meanwhile, mature, experienced consumers have been cultivated accordingly (Mckinsey, 2013). The increase of income and consumption made Chinese society right into the era of consumption upgrades. Consequently, consumers' demand is becoming more segmented and diverse. Consumers are willing to pay the premiums for high quality products and better shopping experience (Baijiahao, 2021), and therefore jewelry and accessories, those non-life-essential products were being concerned. From the perspective of the current social development period, the jewelry industry is a rising industry in China, with great development potential and space in the future.

All

43.73

41.87

58.13

People after1980

All

Consumers have bought products of Chinese designers’ jewelry brands

People after1980

China’s pre-95 in 2019 and “Generation Z” consumption penetration rate of major categories 0%

10%

20%

30%

Computer

40%

50%

Until 2020, China‘s Z Generation will account for 40 % of its overall spending power

Wearable devices

Jewelry

Cosmetics

Generation Z

pre-95

Market Driving Factor I: - The Rise of Middle Class, Increase of Disposable Income, Consumption Upgrading The magnitude of China’s middle-class growth is transforming the nation.

Share of urban households, % 100%=256million 3

357million

14

9

54

54

29 2012

Urban private consumption, 1% 10,048 Billion renminbi 11

26,804 billion renminbi

10.3

20

25

19.6

54

56

22.4

22 16

16

2022

2012

Poor

Mass middle class

Upp er mid dle clas s

Afflu ent

Projected growth of private consumption, CAGR,2012-22,%

14

5

-3.3 -1.5

2022

Market Driving Factor II: - Millennials Become The Main Consumer

ith the prospective of China's economic rapid growth, the scale of China W middle class has increased dramatically. Mckinsey (2013) predicted that China's

upper middle class in 2022 will account for 54% of its society, compared to 14% in 2012. The number of rich people in China also increased from 3% to 9%. The rise of the middle class brought the sharp increase of HNWIs and people's consumption.

Meanwhile, mature, experienced consumers have been cultivated accordingly (Mckinsey, 2013). The increase of income and consumption made Chinese society right into the era of consumption upgrades. Consequently, consumers' demand is becoming more segmented and diverse. Consumers are willing to pay the premiums for high quality products and better shopping experience (Baijiahao, 2021), and therefore jewelry and accessories, those non-life-essential products were being concerned. From the perspective of the current social development period, the jewelry industry is a rising industry in China, with great development potential and space in the future.

By 2020, Chinese generation Z has taken up 40% of the total consumption power, among which 58.13% of post-90s consumers have bought products of Chinese designers’ jewelry brands (iiMedia, 2020). In the future era when post-90s and post00s consumers dominate consumption, they will be the driving force of Chinese designers’ jewelry brands.

T

he main consumers in Chinese society are now millennials and Generation Z consumers, and most of whom were the only child in their families and were brought up in a relatively rich society. They are confident and independent and are determined to demonstrate this independence through consumption (Deloitte, 2021). Because their parents have experienced the shortage-supply era and strove for the economic security, eventually these people became the first middle class generation in China. Apart from austere spending with their parents, this generation is now willing to spend a bigger portion of the family income that will please themselves, and jewelry is obviously on the list. Under family support, Millennials can afford designers’ jewelry. Millennials and Generation Z consumers are willing to try new things, with high acceptance of design-conscious niche designers’ brands and are more likely to buy from these designers’ brands than other aged groups (Mckinsey, 2013). These consumers seek emotional satisfaction through high taste and niche products, and they are loyal to the brands they trust (Deloitte, 2021).

56.27

All

43.73

41.87

58.13

People after1980

All

Consumers have bought products of Chinese designers’ jewelry brands

People after1980

China’s pre-95 in 2019 and “Generation Z” consumption penetration rate of major categories 0%

10%

20%

30%

Computer

40%

50%

Until 2020, China‘s Z Generation will account for 40 % of its overall spending power

Wearable devices

Jewelry

Cosmetics

Generation Z

pre-95

Market Driver I: -The Chinese Society Is Becoming More Supportive With Designer Brand

C

hina is experiencing the transitional stage of economic and social development. The rise and development of cultural and creative industries have attracted the attention of the government and academia. At the same time, cultural and creative industries have gradually become a new driving force in the strategic planning and practice of economic construction (Soho, 2019). The report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed the implementation of an innovation-driven development strategy "promoting cultural innovation", which clearly states that China will promote the cultural industry to become a pillar industry of the national economy, vigorously develop cultural and creative industries, and "transform Made in China into Created in China" ( digitaling, 2015).

Market Driver II: - The Development of Digital Marketing The most common channels for consumers to jewelry purchase

51.2% Network flagship store/ brand official website

49.8% Brand counters and independent stores

43.8% Shopping mall

ith the further popularization of the Internet, global fashion W information and products are rushing into the sight of young Chinese

consumers at an unprecedented speed. More global luxury goods and fashion products are landing on China’s major e-commerce platforms (zhihu, 2017). So far, Chinese consumers have the opportunity to contact various niche fashion brands other than famous foreign brands that have officially landed in China and open up diversified aesthetics and choices.

Secondly, the development of e-commerce also brings opportunities for Chinese designers and niche brands. Chinese designers and niche brands have benefited from the low-cost opening of e-commerce platforms, a wide geographical distribution of consumers, and a large base, which have rapidly increased their popularity and blocked consumers. E-commerce live broadcast has become the first choice for many enterprises to try digitalization.

In the first half of 2019, jewelry has become the second place in various categories of Taobao live broadcast transactions.

Unknowingly, online channels have become a new source of sales growth in the jewelry industry. More than 50% of Chinese jewelry consumers have been on brands and platforms and purchase products at the cooperative online flagship store or brand official website (iiMedia, 2020). The outbreak of the new crown epidemic in 2020 has impacted physical jewelry stores, and offline sales channels have suffered varying degrees of losses. Jewelry brands are also seeking new profit growth models.

In the form of ‘encouraged-to-stay-at-homes’, jewelry brands rely on online channels, and therefore online sales have exploded.

Since e-commerce has intervened in jewelry sales, online jewelry sellers have developed at a high speed. Seizing the opportunity of e-commerce development is one of the focuses of each jewelry brand to enhance its competitiveness (baijiahao, 2021).

Competitor Study I

YVMIN is a jewelry brand that delivers romance in an artistic way. It was founded in Beijing in 2012 by Min Li and Xiaoyu Zhang. YVMIN creates jewelry with a distinct attitude by incorporating non-traditional materials and experimental wearing methods into the design. The YVMIN brand launched its first jewelry collection in 2013. The two founders and designers' innovative attempts on materials and craftsmanship made YVMIN's design unique. So far, 6 exclusive brand series and one cooperation series have been designed. His works have been exhibited successively in Galerie Marzee Global Art Jewelry Exhibition, "Ten Years of Sound" International Contemporary Jewelry Art Exhibition, Beijing International Art Jewelry Biennale, Art Beijing ART BEIJING, and Beijing Design Week DESIGN WEEK, etc.

Product YVMIN positions itself as a body decoration laboratory, expanding the boundaries of jewelry and explore all the beauty related to body decoration. The products are diverse, including necklaces, earrings, rings, bracelets, sunglasses, eye frames, hair clips, hair bands and candles. Yvmin has developed and used a large number of novel materials in different series, including velvet, resin, metal, freshwater pearl, zircon and so on. Different types of materials provide diversity for the brand's style, and the use of different materials reflects the progress of the brand culture as the brand develops new series. The overall design of Yvmin's accessories is sweet, with a hint of coolness and horror in the cuteness. China has always regarded sweetness and cuteness as the aesthetic standard for girls, but with the development of society and the diversification of social aesthetics, people refuse to define things in a single way. Therefore, the style of coolness in sweetness was born and was welcomed. This design style is a novel design on the market, and it has also become the object of imitation by subsequent designers.

Yvmin seeks breakthroughs in cooperation with other brands. In the Yvmin x Shushutong series, Yvmin changed from the usual cute ghost horse style and created a modern, elegant, and fashionable new style with shushutong. The designer of Shushutong had interned at Simone Rochar, so Shushutong followed Simone Rochar's "modern, powerful and romantic" brand style. This style has matured overseas, and Shushutong has a good response in China as the second Simone Rochar. Yvmin's cooperation with other brands can not only break through the previous style and bring more consumers to the brand, while at the same time can use the popularity of another brand in the field to improve its brand's popularity and image among consumers.

Different series of Yvmin target different consumer groups. In terms of style, each series of Yvmin has its unique highlights. For instance, in the ripple series, its product feature is that the overall element uses purple zircon to combine with metal to create a wave-like shape. Another example is the capsule series, which is characterized by reducing childhood toys such as bear puppets and integrating them into accessories.

Such a novel design style impresses consumers a lot.

Compared with the ripple series, the capsule series has a more lovely and sweet style, while the ripple series has a more ghostly and cool style. Different designs allow consumers who like different styles to find their favorite products with the Yvmin brand. In this way, Yvmin can have a larger consumer group than those with a single design style. Yvmin's No. 1 sales is the sweets series. The products in this series combine candy shapes with metal and zircon stones. The design is unique and concise with the style both sweet and cool. Compared with other series of products, this series of products are more versatile. In terms of consumption, this series has a wider audience and a higher cost performance.

Price & Place

What Yvmin performs is the penetration pricing strategy. Yvmin’s pricing was relatively acceptable by most consumers at its early ages. Along with the price advantage, Yvmin’s prominent design language also helped the brand occupied a major share in the market. While setting up higher prices with increasing reputation, the brand kept up its distinctions and memory points for consumers. Thus, Yvmin gathers fan base promptly and to some extent made itself irreplaceable in the market. People are willing to pay for such products even though their prices are higher. Smartly, Yvmin set the prices of the series with higher popularity and bigger volume of sales at around 1,000 RMB, and meanwhile set the prices of the relatively unpopular series at around several hundred RMB. This pricing strategy allows each type of yvmin product to have a larger price range hence to satisfy customers with different consumption levels. Yvmin is also using this price difference to expand the consumer group, selling low-profile series with price advantages.

Yvmin mainly relies on online sales, and online sales account for 70% of the main sales. Sales channels include the official flagship store of Yvmin Taobao, third-party online buyers at home and abroad, and the official flagship store of cooperative brand Shushutong Taobao. In the Internet era, online sales have become the best marketing method for brands. Online sales cater to the shopping habits of Yvmin’s target consumers (Generation Z); online stores are low in cost and do not limit consumers’ geographic locations, which is beneficial to new designers’ initial development of the brand. Yvmin also cooperates with offline buyers to sell its own products.

Offline sales can interact closely with consumers, and better display products to consumers who don’t know the brand and help expand brand awareness.

Promotion

Yvmin often uses celebrity private servers, magazine shooting, variety shows to increase brand and product awareness and use celebrity fan groups to increase product sales. At the same time, Yvmin also expanded the scope of product exposure through the small red book (a well-known Chinese fashion platform) KOL and KOC shop volume promotion, and increased product awareness by planting grass (representing the behavior of sharing and recommending the excellent quality of a product to stimulate the desire of others to buy) . The advantage of this approach is that it can transform KOL and KOC fans into consumers, and it can also attract consumers and enthusiasts with different aesthetics through different styles of KOL and KOC. In addition, Yvmin opened an official account on WeChat. As of the first quarter of 2021, the number of monthly active users of WeChat has reached 1.09 billion, and the number of active users of the official account has reached 400 million. The WeChat brand official account is a medium for disseminating brand culture and brand news. Brand fans can follow the brand's official account and learn about brand news such as the latest news, marketing activities, etc., and can also interact with the brand by leaving messages and clicking on the content.

Yvmin also filmed short videos for different series, and in 2021 the brand shot a short film featuring a disabled girl as the protagonist. They created a different prosthesis for this disabled girl, and delivered the brand’s concept : "Try to expand the boundaries of jewelry and explore all the beauty related to body decoration." Xiao Yang (the heroine) fits well with brand consumers in terms of age and temperament. The heroine has a different life experience that makes the story excessively touching. In this way, the consumer's sense of identity is improved, and Yvmin's understanding of the body and accessories is shown to the audience.

Yvmin and FAKESHION jointly cooperated in offline pop-up stores in October 2017 and participated in the Pioneer Fashion Art Festival pop-up store held by Tmall Club and Labelhood in 2018. In 2020, YVMIN and JOYCE Gallery under JOYCE will have a pop-up store. This sales method captures a lot of deep emotions, such as curiosity and fascination with fleeting things.

The short stay in pop-up stores instead gives consumers more motivation to try and share their experience with friends around, therefore, to achieve the purpose of gathering high popularity and forming hot spots in the short term, and then promote the brand. Offline pop-up stores are presented through scenario-based brand content output, which can not only improve user brand awareness and achieve user and brand penetration, but also provide users with a strong interactive product experience and stimulate consumers' desire for exploration.

Yvmin is also conducting live sales on Taobao's social media shopping platform, providing discount coupons to consumers who are watching the live broadcast and intending to buy, and through this promotion method, the brand boosted sales in a short period of time.

Competitor Study II

KVK’s (Kill Via Kindness) jewelry is a niche designer brand in China. The overall style is cool, functional, metallic, and neutral. This style is unique in the market and conforms to the current trend of genderless design. KVK takes disassembly and reorganization as the design concept of accessories.

The products are mostly composed of freely disassembled parts, allowing consumers to freely combine according to the current mood or the needs of the place. For example, in the early classic series-Speed Racer series (Speed Racer), the series is configured with abstract letters and symbol elements, natural special-shaped pearls, splicing chains and other free components to satisfy the wearer's personalized expression as much as possible.

Product & Promotion KVK uses the same material and elements extensively in different details: metal and chain.

This design allows even different series of products to maintain the brand tonality very well.

KVK has added a variety of elements to the basic materials. For example, in the Blossom series, pink zircon is the mainstay, and metal and zircon are combined. The overall style is more towards women because of the pink zircon ears, and in the meantime adding an elegant style. In the Net collection series and Spider sequence series, a large number of chain combinations and spider images make the overall style cooler and can be worn by both men and women. This neutral style allows KVK's consumer groups to not be restricted by gender. Unlike other brands' cuteness or sweetness, which can only attract female consumers, KVK's style can attract consumers of different genders. The establishment of basic materials and elements to maintain brand tonality, however, also has disadvantages. Compared with brands with more styles, brands with a single style have a relatively single type of consumers. Based on the data from KVK Taobao flagship store, the top sales of necklaces and bracelets are in the Basic collection, and the top sales of rings are in the Spider sequence series. The styles of these two series are similar, and both belong to the neutral style. Similarly, the types of consumers who buy these products are the same.

KVK often uses celebrity private services, magazine shooting, variety shows and other revealing methods to increase brand and product awareness. KVK also uses celebrity fans to increase product sales. KVK also expands the scope of product exposure through KOL and KOC sales promotion, increases product awareness, and increases product sales by ‘planting grass’ (representing the behavior of sharing and recommending the excellent quality of a product to stimulate the desire of others to buy). The advantage of this approach is that it can transform KOL and KOC fans into consumers, and it can also attract consumers and enthusiasts with different aesthetics through different styles of KOL and KOC. At the same time, KVK also sells goods through live on e-commerce platforms, increases product sales in the form of coupons or discounts for consumers, and places advertisements on the homepage or product pages of social media shopping apps such as Douyin and Taobao.

KVK cooperates with Fourtry, a fashion variety show, in ways including co-branded products and KVK product exposure, using Fourtry's high exposure and fan base to increase product sales and brand-awareness.

Price & Place KVK’s main sales channel is Taobao flagship store, while KVK also opened an offline experience store to provide consumers with try-on. The unique decoration through KVK offline experience allows consumers to fully feel the tonality and style of the KVK brand.

Offline experience stores help brands establish their image, expand their visibility, and allow consumers to interact with brands and products.

Prices of different series from KVK vary as great as ten times from lowest to highest. The prices of different series of KVK vary greatly, the price difference is nearly ten times. The wide price range of products pricing is conducive for brands to meet groups with different consumption abilities. Many designer brands apply this method to deal with the inventory of those less popular products. Compared to Yvmin, the price of KVK is about 1/3 lower, and this is basically due to Yvmin is more pronounced as a brand and has a larger fan base. Since KVK is relatively singular in style, its audience is not as broad as Yvmin, and a lower price can help KVK expand the market to increase sales volume. KVK is still in the development stage that mainly took up the pricing strategy of early Yvmin. KVK caters to most consumers with lower prices seeking to expand its reputation.

Summary The Chinese designer jewelry brand market has strong driving forces from four aspects : as the income of Chinese households increases year by year, the middle class has explosively increased, consumer consumption upgrades, and experiential consumer demand for high-quality products increases; Millennials Consumers have become the main force of social consumption, they are interested in personalized, high-grade products that meet emotional needs; the Chinese government has increased investment and policy favor in creative industries, especially the design industry; the rapid development of e-commerce has helped small businesses. The brand is developing rapidly while the cost is low, which establishes a good market foundation for new brands to join.

With the trend of younger consumers, Chinese designer jewelry brands need to emphasize "diversity" and "uniqueness" in their products. For example, the product style may not be a single sweet or cool, but a multi-layered style with coolness in sweetness. It is the extensive use of various materials to create products to cater to young consumer groups with different preferences. "Uniqueness" can be reflected in the novelty of materials and designs, or it can provide consumers with the possibility of reorganizing materials and creating opportunities for "private customization".

In terms of setting price for products, Chinese designer jewelry brands can escape the limitations of brand positioning. For example, high-end jewelry regardless of material, all series are very expensive in response to the brand's high-end positioning. While Chinese designer jewelry brands can be priced based on the popularity of their products, products with average popularity can expand their sales at lower prices. Products with high popularity can be priced significantly higher even if they are made of the same materials.

Chinese designer jewelry brands may consider a sales model that focuses on online sales and is supplemented by offline sales. Online sales channels, such as the opening of Taobao flagship stores or WeChat boutiques, have low store costs and are not subject to geographical restrictions on consumers, which is conducive to the initial development of new designer brands. It also caters to the shopping habits of Generation Z, the main target of the designer brand. As for offline sales channels, if the brand capital is relatively abundant, a small number of branded physical stores can be established to increase interaction with consumers. Other practical options include selling in cooperation with offline buyers.

Chinese designer jewelry brands not only need to consider rapidly expanding their visibility and expanding the "breadth" of the brand among consumers, but also the "depth" of the relationship with consumers. Because "functionality" can no longer stimulate the desire of Chinese young consumers to shop, they are more likely to be seeking emotional connection and release. Marketing techniques to expand the "breadth" include the use of variety shows, celebrities and KOLs to wear publicity. Marketing techniques to expand the "depth" include brand pop-up stores, art exhibitions, short videos developed by brands on social topics, etc., which all can arouse consumers' in-depth thinking and collide with consumers' emotions. At the end of the day, consumers and brands are not just maintaining a "business" relationship but keeping the friendship in which, they listen to each other.

Su

Porter’s Five Forces Of Our Brand Customer Bargaining Power Threat of Substitutes Internal competition (Rivalry) Suppliers Bargaining Power Threat of New Entrants

1. Customer Bargaining Power (LOW) Our brand is groundbreaking in terms of design style. This style is unprecedented among Chinese designer jewelry brands. For consumers, our brand will be their only choice if they are in favor of this style. Therefore, the bargaining power of consumers is relatively low.

2. Threat of Substitutes (LOW) Wearing jewelry originated from over thousands of years ago. The materials of jewelry have changed over time, but the idea of wearing jewelry has been preserved until today. It is certain that designer jewelry brands compete with traditional jewelry brands and other affordable jewelry brands in the market, while it is unlikely that jewelry will be replaced by products from other fields.

3. Internal Competition / Rivalry (MIDDLE) There are a large number of jewelry designer brands in this country, but most of the brands are currently small in scale and market share. Leading brands are not in absolute leading positions of market shares. Secondly, the characteristics of existing brands are not obvious with serious plagiarism in the market.

Although our brand owns a unique style, and consumers who appreciate our brand are highly sticky, there are still brands that are priced-low prices and large in quantity posing great threats to us.

4. Suppliers Bargaining Power (MIDDLE) Our designer jewelry brand deals with cooperating with material suppliers, product manufacturers, and packaging design & production companies. Material suppliers have less pressure on us because we can choose from different materials as a designer brand. At present, there are a great number of similar materials with different characteristics, and meanwhile up-to-date materials have been developed. As of product manufacturing and processing, the brand will be facing tremendous pressure from factories at its initial stage upon creation. According to the survey, there are few jewelry processing factories in China that can do small-batch production, and due to their small scale and lack of commercial norms, they make the situation quite difficult for commercial cooperation.

However, once the brand develops, it can cooperate with factories of larger scale, which will help reduce costs and standardize cooperation.

Regarding the choice of packagers, due to the development of online sales, the market is gradually becoming more transparent in a sense you can shop around and choose from a wide range of options. Therefore, packagers have relatively low bargaining power for our brand.

5. Threat of New Entrants (HIGH) The threshold for establishing niche brands or designer brands in China is low, and niche brands can quickly gain popularity by low-cost e-commerce operations.

China also lacks systematic supervision over the protection of intellectual property rights of product designs. Different brands have been learning from or even plagiarizing each other. This indeed cause our brands to suffer from high threats from new entrants. To deal with this threat, our brand must have a unique and unforgettable design, so that this design becomes part of our brand ‘s visual identity. In this case, even if consumers encounter similar products from a different brand, they will realize that they are COPY-CATS.

Target Consumer Analysis Based On Our Brand Product Design And Materials Futures, We Sort Consumers Into 4 Tiers

Fashion Innovator Helps on Expanding Visibility, Establish Brand Image; Aspiring Youth Guarantees Brand Sales

Of The Four Tiers, We Target The Two Major Consumer Groups, Fashion Innovator And Aspiring Youth Fashion Innovator

Aspiring Yough

Others

Although Fashion Innovator belongs to the two major sectors of “Core” and “Value”, the size of Fashion Innovator group is too small to guarantee product sales. In the meantime, when Fashion Innovator brings products popularity, Aspiring Youth will naturally become consumers of the brands. Therefore, the target consumer groups of this brand are both Fashion Innovator and Aspiring Youth, and the subsequent strategies will also be around these two groups of consumers.

Fashion Innovator

Fa In

Who Age:18 – 25 Y.O Gender: Both female and male Education: highly educated, some of them studied overseas Monthly Income: > 8000 RMB Marriage statues: Mostly single

How

What Hungry for novel, exciting experience, they are not afraid of spending all the income on making themselves satisfied and happy; They are willing to take risks, break the traditions to live a life.

“I admire brands with advanced designs. Although they are sometimes not understandable to others, they represent fashion and art!”

They are always looking for unique products to break the boundaries of traditional fashion and show their personalities and tastes. They are often attracted by unconventional designs and product materials. They do not care judgment of their clothes from other people, they enjoy their clothing. There are people who are born fashion-leading, while there are some people dressing for the purpose of leading the trend.

Cinema

Art Exhibitions Selected Fashion Shop

Fashion Innovator CDJ: Highly Rely on International Media/ Sales Channels

• Awearness

• Interest

• Consider

• Purchase

They usually learn about new brands and products on international media platforms.

International students comprise the majority of the group, and they also attain their fashion information through foreign buyers’ shops.

They have particular interests in fashion. When they learn about a new brand, they will try to dig out the background of the brand from various channels.

When making a decision of purchase, they will no longer refer to other people. This group has a very strong sense of self and style, and in this scenario official platforms best help them understanding the products.

Price and the time of waiting are the decisive factors for whether they will eventually make purchases. This is because they have limited income and they feel like getting their ideal products as soon as possible.

• Niche Fashion Magazine

• Brand Website

• Brand Website

• 3rd-Party Ecommerce

• Instagram

• Instagram

• Offline Store

• Brand Website

• Offline Store

• Offline Store

• Fashion Week

• Search engine

• Offline Store

Aspiring Youth

As Yo

Who Age: 20 – 30 Y.O Gender: Skew to female Education: highly educated Monthly Income: > 6000 RMB Marriage statues: some of them married (without Kids)

How

What They are active in social media, like to follow KOL and influencers, and always get interests from them. They like to dress fashionable, willing to spend a lot on dress. But they normally are not very loyal to one brand, as their fashion choices are usually influenced by others.

“When I see people share good-looking fashion products on social media, I always want to try them myself. ”

They chase after popular products on social media. There are some products that are not good fit for them, but because of the popularity of the product, they will still buy the products just to showcase.

They care about the quality of the product, and they try to avoid the damage of cheap products on their images. Entry-level products are what they usually start with due to their limited income.

Cinema

Shoping Mall Social Media recommend popular place

Aspiring Youth CDJ: Chinese Social Media and KOL are Key Channels to Win Them

• Awearness

• Interest

• Consider

• Purchase

They tend to follow fashionrelated information and discuss outfits with friends. They are often attracted by products recommended by self-media.

After they learn about the new brand/product, they usually go to social media to check out other users‘ or KOL’s comments and recommendations. Opinions from friends also have a great influence on them.

When considering a purchase, they turn to the brand‘s official WeChat and Tmall store to learn more about the price and reviews of other users. They will also continue to follow up with brand’s reports on social media.

They are more sensitive to the price of products. In addition to buying products in branded Tmall stores and buyer stores, sometimes they also link up with individual buyers to seek for lower prices.

• Red, Weibo

• Red, Weibo

• Brand WeChat

• Tmall

• KOL&Celebrity

• KOL&Celebrity

• Tmall

• Selected Store

• Magazine

• Friends

• Selected Store

• Daigou

• Friends

• Red

Our Strategy Establich Brand Base on Brand Archetypes For create our brand, first we explored its possible archetype: Archetypes encompass Brand’s overall personality and work as a mental shortcut to help marketers to create consistent, engaging messaging and content.

‘Lover’ is chosen to be the archetype of our brand.

• Personality: • Faithfulness • Passionate sensuality • Sexuality and spirituality • Expansiveness • Vitality • Appreciation.

• Representive Colour: • Gold • Red • Pink

Audit Naming Methods of Designer Jewelry Brands, Four methods are shown below:

(Two designers Yü and Min)

Name With Designer /Founder Name

Transliterating Name (the transliteration of ‘ 破格 ’ ) (TY’s Grocery)

(‘só’ means ‘only’ in Portuguese Brand concept: everything is unique in the atelier)

Name With Brand Concept

Name With Designer /Founder Name

Name With Brand Concept

(‘Moi’ means ‘Me’ in French Brand concept: ‘Me’ always curious, ‘Me’ always innovative)

Transliterating Name

No Meaning But Artistic Name

(Kill VIA Kindness)

(‘Adjust’ brand concept: adjust always, and exploit the possibility )

Name With Designer /Founder Name (soft-boild egg)

Brand Story and Concept

‘Young Zoo’ in my sense embodied my concept of both breaking boundaries and embracing diversities. By ‘Young’, I seek to provoke an intuition of trendiness on whoever that reads this name; while with ‘Zoo’ it leaves room for imagination that connects the beauty of nature and wildness. Putting these two words together, they make flames by creating the vibe of being unfettered and in the meantime reconciles the delivery of our identities.

Product

‘Sliding over the BLINGS’ Series utilizes metal to wrap glass which create a different sense of modern glass jewelry.

This series combined the toughness of metal chains with the softness from glass, delivered dual feelings of softness coexisting with gentleness.

Young Zoo leaves a deep impression with the design language using bright colors and bold looks and materials. Young Zoo always strives to encourage people to try out different styles and discover potentials in fashion of oneself.

Sliding over the BLINGS Ring Glass & Silver

Sliding over the BLINGS Hair Clap Glass & Silver

Sliding over the BLINGS Necklace Glass & Silver

Sliding over the BLINGS Earring Glass & Silver

Price Unit: ¥ RMB

Whole Sale Price

Grass 40

Opal 70

Jade 50

Ceramics 40

Sandalwood 60

Crystal 40

Ring

84

147

105

96

126

84

Earing

84

147

105

96

126

84

Necklace

126

189

147

126

168

126

Bracelate

126

189

147

126

168

126

Retail Price

Grass 40

Opal 70

Jade 50

Ceramics 40

Sandalwood 60

Crystal 40

Ring

226.8

396.9

283.5

259.2

340.2

226.8

Earing

226.8

396.9

283.5

259.2

340.2

226.8

Necklace

340.2

510.3

396.9

340.2

453.6

340.2

Bracelate

340.2

510.3

396.9

340.2

453.6

340.2

Estmated whole sale price = (Cost of materials + labour) * 2.1 Estmated retail price = (Cost of materials + labour) * 2.1 * 2.7

Higher Awearness

Higher Price

Lower Price

Lower Awearness YoungZOO pricing adopts a cost-based pricing strategy. Based on the cost, the price is adjusted according to the competitive environment of which the brand is in. Therefore, the price of Young Zoo is slightly lower than that of KVK since Young Zoo is a new brand. Generally low prices can be used to accelerate penetrating the market in the early stages of entering. As the brand ‘s popularity and consumers base bloom in the future, the brand will then launch higher-priced product lines to enhance brand positioning and image.

Stage

Brand Set Up

Brand Developing

Purpose

Rise Awearness

Rise Awearness+ Sales

Action

•

KOL

•

KOL celebrity

•

Setting up account on Xiaohongshu

•

Setting up account on Xiaohongshu

•

Attending other buyer shops’ activities

•

Attending other buyer shops’ activities

•

WEIBO page

•

Official online store

Promotion - Brand set up

In the early stages of brand establishment, the goal of marketing is to quickly arouse the brand ‘s market awareness. At this stage, the brand will mainly do marketing on Xiaohongshu APP, while increase offline participation in events such as pop-up stores and theme exhibitions held by some well-known fashion or buyer stores. Xiaohongshu is a popular social media in China currently having xx active users. The users of Xiaohongshu are mainly females. “Fashion” is the most discussed topic on Xiaohongshu. On Xiaohongshu, people post photos, videos, music and other types of fashion-related contents.

With influencers with matching styles on Xiaohongshu, it can quickly spread brand awareness among fashion lovers with matching styles. Later on, the brand plans to open a “designer’s personal homepage”, but one thing to note that this homepage is not a “brand homepage”. In this way, the brand reduces the rigidness of advertising while use the designer ‘s personal charm to eliminate the distance between the brand and consumers, and eventually enhances the brand’s vitality. Participating in activities organized by Label hood and buyer shops can help brands join the circle of fashionistas. The brand will make use of exhibitions or talk to spread brand culture and refresh the brand connotation.

Influcer Marketing

Designer Interaction

Off-Line Events

Promotion - Brand Developing

In the development stage of the brand, in addition to the marketing methods as well as to further enhance brand awareness and product sales, the brand will increase celebrity sponsorship and social media marketing methods. With adequate funds, the brand will sponsor celebrity events and accessories to increase product exposure and try to drive attention and sales through celebrity effects.

Sponcor Celebrity

Social Media Marketing - Weibo

Social Media Marketing - Wechat

This will induce celebrity fans to interact with the brand on Weibo, repost these posts, and imitate celebrities’ outfits.

At this stage, the brand already has gathered a certain degree of popularity. The brand will open a public account on WeChat to continue the influence and at the same time increase the efficiency of brand interaction. Moreover, the brand will open a WeChat store on WeChat to form a promotion loop of Content+sales.

Place

Taobao ecommerce platform

Wechat Store

Young ZOO plans to implement a sales model with ‘online as the main line and offline as supplement’. Relying on the Taobao ecommerce platform, the brand will build official stores. Being China ‘s largest e-commerce platform, Taobao has 441.36 million monthly active users. Taobao also supports live broadcast, and ‘Double11’（same as Black Friday） online shopping festival as marketing methods. Moreover, YoungZOO will open a WeChat store after the completion of the WeChat official account to promote the conversion from fans to consumers.

As of offline sales, Young ZOO will mainly rely on buyer stores with matching styles for sales promotion. Though cooperating with a buyer’s store will divide the profits, promoting sales while sharing the customer pool indeed saves a great cost from marketing for the brand.

Xiaohongshu

Wechat

Weibo

Instagram

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• Analysis on the market competition pattern and development trend of China jewelry Industry in 2020 (2021)? Available at: https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1694915397 103805756&wfr=spider&for=pc (Accessed: 29 August 2021).

• Barton D., Chen Y., and Jin A. (2013), Generational change and the rising prosperity of inland cities will power consumption for years to come.Available at: https:// www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/mapping-chinas-middle-class (Accessed: 14 August 2021).

• FAKESHION (2017), We opened a trendy pop-up in Shanghai for you to punch in. Available at: https://www.sohu.com/a/212174294_487916 (Accessed: 29 August 2021).

• Deloitte Global (2021), A call for accountability and action. Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/2021-deloitte-globalmillennial-survey-report.pdf (Accessed: 18 August 2021).

• Iimedia (2020), 2020 China jewelry industry market research and analysis. Available at: https://www.iimedia.cn/c1020/76133.html (Accessed: 18 August 2021).

• LuxeCO (2017), Consumer Groups and Scenes of Chinese Designer Brands "2017 China Fashion Consumption Survey Report". Available at: https://zhuanlan.zhihu. com/p/28055099 (Accessed: 29 August 2021).

• Mu X. (2020), Analysis on the status quo and prospect of the development of China's jewelry industry in 2020. Available at: https://www.qianzhan.com/analyst/ detail/220/200323-3be9da52.html (Accessed: 14 August 2021).

• Shanghai Fashion Week | Tmall Club X LABELHOOD, did you get the ticket (2018)? Available at: https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1596397446510221937&wfr=spide r&for=pc (Accessed: 29 August 2021).

• State-sponsored fashion design (2019)?Available at: https://www.sohu.com/a/359319494_503413 (Accessed: 29 August 2021).

• The status of designers in China! Get this straight (2015)? Available at: https://www.digitaling.com/articles/19709.html (Accessed: 29 August 2021).

• What is a pop-up? What are the advantages of pop-up stores (2019)? Available at: http://www.1shi.com.cn/bk/409.html (Accessed: 29 August 2021).

• YVMIN X JOYCE pop-up (2020). Available at: https://fashion.ifeng.com/c/7t4TglBFvzl (Accessed: 29 August 2021).