The Rise of pdc From Path of Sake Lees Mask
- Chaileedo Press
- Oct 6, 2021
- 3 min read
In the skincare sector, the differentiated segmentation of the category create successfully so that a deep imprint of “category” or “brand” in the minds of consumers. To a certain extent, the brand directly promoted as a synonym for the category. Pioneer of Sake Lees Mask POLA DAILY COSME is a typical example.
The origin of Sake Lees Mask can be traced back to 1975 when Japanese scientists visiting a brewery discovered by chance that the sake lees produced by natural fermentation during the brewing process can produce whitening and anti-aging ingredients on human skin. Between 2015 and 2016, some Japanese bloggers began to make their own sake lees to apply to their faces at home. At the same time, some Japanese various TV shows have also mentioned this skin care method. However, homemade sake lees takes a long time and the process is cumbersome for the average consumer. Thus "sake lees applies face" has not formed a skin care trend in the market.
In 2015, Japanese beauty brand POLA DAILY COSME pioneered the research and development of sake lees skincare. After more than two years, pdc "Sake Lees Mask" was launched in 2017 and put into the market in February of the same year. It is understood that only 4 months after its launch, pdc Sake Lees Mask will be on top of the COSME Awards. Since then, the "first in COSME " has marked as pdc and it is an important point to the brand occupying the consumer market. Its Sake Lees Mask has also become this segment of the well-deserved “originator”.
It is reported that the pdc was founded in 1992, which is the Japanese POLA Group's popular line of beauty brands. At present, pdc has a number of series such as Wafood Made, Pure Natural and Liftarna, covering two categories of skin care and color cosmetics. Among them, the sub-category of sake lees belongs to Wafood Made, meaning “Wafood Made Skincare”, advocating the application of edible ingredients to skin care products and highlighting the "natural" and "safe" products.
In addition to the star single product Wafood Made Sake Kasu Sake Lees Mask Pack, pdc has launched Wafood Made Sake Kasu Sake Lees Facial Cleanser, Wafood Made Sake Kasu Sake Lees Mask Pack (without clean), Wafood Made Sake Kasu Sake Lees Essence and Wafood Made Sake Kasu Sake Lees Moisturizing Cream one after another. According to data provided by the brand, sales of Wafood Made products have accumulated over 15 million as of April 2020.
It is reported that “pdc Co,. Ltd.”, the headquarters of pdc, has adopted an agency-style operation in the market for channel and layout. In addition to its Tokyo headquarters, it has five other branch offices in Sapporo, Sendai-shi, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka-ken of Japan. Its main markets are Japan and China.
In fact, pdc opened its overseas flagship store in Tmall International back in July 2017. But its popularity in the Chinese market is not unrelated to Chinese actress Fan Bingbing.
From January 2018 to July 2019, Fan Bingbing shared several articles about pdc Wafood Made Sake Kasu Sake Lees Mask on social media platforms. With the celebrity effect, the mask went viral in China. Then the mask sold in Japan's affordable drugstore was snapped up by Chinese agents and even the situation of "one mask is difficult to find, Fan Bingbing herself can not buy" .
As the product became popular, pdc is also increasing its marketing. In the Chinese market, pdc gained benefit from the celebrity effect like “same mask as Fan Bingbing” thus it chose to cooperate with more KOLs because of the huge promotion. Driven by the effect of celebrities and KOLs, pdc saw a big explosion in the Chinese market. According to its Tmall overseas store data, the star single product pdc Wafood Made Sake Kasu Sake Lees Mask has accumulated sales of more than 300,000, monthly sales of 10,000 +.
Between 2017 to 2020, pdc has created a legend in the skincare industry in China by growing its share of the Chinese market from $313,400 to $0.78 billion, achieving a 250-times increase with Wafood Made Sake Kasu Sake Lees Mask. It became a legendary in the skincare industry in China. In 2021 after 4 years of low-profile, pdc invited popular Chinese idol Fan Chengcheng as its global spokesperson. It had challenge to go from an online internet pop-up products to a household name and popular brand.
Seeing the huge potential of the Chinese market, pdc has stepped up its efforts to enter the Chinese market and strengthen the cooperation with Taobao, Tmall and other e-commerce platforms. It also expanded its offline channels, mainly including CS channels and KA channels. So far, pdc made a determination to increase the extend of the Chinese market.
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