Collaborating with DKSH allowed a consumer goods company to strengthen its shaving and oral care products in a new and different consumer segment while expanding the local consumer base in Hong Kong and Macau.
For more than 180 years, the client’s range of well-known consumer brands have been used by millions of households across the world. In Hong Kong and Macau, we have supported its diversified portfolio since 2016 and this includes products like shavers, oral care products, and hair removers.
Challenge
As with many other consumer goods brands, the COVID-19 situation created numerous challenges for the client’s products. Top among the hurdles was the limited travel permitted during the height of the pandemic. As traditional tourist shopping stores and retailers in both Hong Kong and Macau were forced to closed, this resulted in reduced demand for “imported sales” consumer goods in the markets.
That period also changed the existing sales distribution approach: condensing it into certain prime locations and creating consumption flocks at scattered locations, including residential areas, territories, and remote areas. This meant that goods reaching target audiences was a huge challenge.
The rising dependence on eCommerce and online shopping also meant that our cilent had to swiftly reshape its marketing and sales strategies to meet the shifting consumer behavior and market demand.
Approach
For the shaving and oral care products, we focused on rebuilding the brands, rejuvenating the network, and strengthening marketing communications. A crucial role was to enhance the brands’ presence in the personal care electrical appliances segment. By redefining the products segment, we were able to shape and target the right marketing approach to reach the right audience.
Rather than focus on imported sales, we decided on expanding the local consumer base, especially with the booming home grooming and hygiene concerns triggered by the pandemic. As we found that electronic personal care consumers still preferred experiencing the products and sharing users’ experiences with the promoters before buying, we transformed promoters into products consultants to teach consumers to be “professional” stylists themselves.
Leveraging the celebrity effect was another key approach for the brands during this period. By using a popular all-male pop group to endorse the oral care products, we highlighted the new and creative product features we believed would resonate with the celebrities’ vast number of followers.
Result
Since our collaboration commenced with the two brands in the market, local consumption has recorded a high double-digit growth with a steady increase in the local market share. They have also recorded higher sales revenue, while successfully moving up the product price range and enhanced by better after-sales service for the brands.
Both brands have since become the second-largest names in the two industry sectors in the market in the personal care segment and the oral product segment also achieved remarkable annual growth. As a testament to both brands’ increased presence, the team was accorded the Best Product Feature Award at the 2020 Fortress Better Living Award ceremony.