When the boys put on the mask, VC came.

Original Yang Wenjing Wild Consumption Bar

Maybe one day, boys will be as crazy as their girlfriends in the live room of skin care and beauty.

Author I Yang Wenjing

Report I PEdaily in the investment community

Girls who were worried about skin care and beauty makeup 10 years ago never imagined that one day, men around them would get together to discuss which brand mask to put on and which set of skin care products to use.

This scene has become a reality today. In recent years, the exclusive men’s skin care and beauty track has been popular. In the beginning of 2022, Guochao men’s personal care brand "Blue Department" announced the completion of tens of millions of Series A financing, which was led by Meihua Venture Capital, followed by Jiuchuang Capital and Jinhuifeng Capital. Established more than two years ago, Blue Department has obtained three rounds of financing, with investors including Qifu Capital, Magellan Group Gaosaier and Qianhai Luojin Fund.

Interestingly, it was a woman who founded this male consumer brand. Ten years ago, Ding Jie, the founder, overheard two male friends borrowing masks from each other during a camping trip, which showed her the blue ocean of the domestic market for male cosmetics. After some research, Ding Jie established the Blue Department. Aiming at the young consumer groups after 1995, the Blue Department quickly circled several major e-commerce platforms shortly after its establishment, and in the Tmall Double Eleven last year, the turnover in the first hour of sales increased by 50 times year-on-year.

At one time, the consumption power of male groups was ranked at the end by entrepreneurs and investors, especially in the field of cosmetics and personal care with obvious female labels, and there were very few male consumers. However, with the Z-generation boys gradually stepping onto the consumption stage, the anxiety of face value spread to young men, and the makeup and skin care brands of exclusive boys began to enter the public eye.

A set of data shows that the post-90 s and post-95 s have become the main consumers of online male skin care products, accounting for about 60%. In recent years, with the rise of brands such as Li Ran, Blue, Tabula Rasa, and Dear Boyfriend, VCs have also begun to move.

A girl who makes men’s skin care products was voted by VC.

The blue department was born out of a missed business opportunity.

Ten years ago, there was a wave of "other economy" consumption in China. Grasping women’s needs meant seizing business opportunities. During that time, many domestic beauty brands such as Perfect Diary and Hua Xizi were founded one after another, but Ding Jie, who is considering starting a business at this time, missed this wave perfectly.

By chance, Ding Jie and his friends participated in a camping trip in the hinterland of the desert. During the camping trip, they heard two male friends borrowing masks from each other. At that time, cosmetics and skin care products for male consumers were still scarce in China, but the number of boys who already had skin care awareness was increasing. This made Ding Jie smell the potential business opportunities in the field of men’s cosmetics.

With 15 years of experience in e-commerce and traffic management, Ding Jie began to conduct in-depth market research. She found that in the face of the growth and diversification of the demand side, the domestic market for men’s cosmetics still lacks high-quality supply. Some brands have low prices and ignore quality control, which leads to the inability to guarantee the repurchase rate. Some brands even change the packaging directly and sell it to male consumers on the basis of women’s makeup formula, lacking the exclusive supply of men.

In addition, international brands have strict control over profit margins, and most of their men’s makeup products cost several hundred yuan, so there is still room for improvement in cost performance. In the sinking market where the purchase channels of skin care products are relatively simple, young men are more dependent on online shopping.

So, Ding Jie found a breakthrough. In October 2018, Ding Jie officially started the brewing of blue brands, and found team members with experience in leading cosmetics industries such as L ‘Oreal, Huaxizi and Martin. Their goal is very clear-insist on high-quality products that are really suitable for men, and build Blue into a more popular domestic brand of men’s cosmetics.

In March 2019, the "Blue Department", which focuses on men’s cosmetics, was formally established, moving in two directions towards men’s skin care line and men’s makeup product line. Team Ding Jie priced the single blue product below 100 yuan, hoping to reach the young consumers after 1995 and the people in the second, third and below cities through high cost performance.

Ding Jie once mentioned in his speech that the post-70s and post-80s may not develop skin care habits, but the post-90s group has developed skin care habits since childhood, and they are more willing to make independent decisions when they grow up. She is concerned that the market demand has changed and started to migrate to the younger Z generation.

Based on previous e-commerce marketing experience, Ding Jie paid special attention to product packaging design. In addition to forming a unique cool style, the Blue Department also focuses on combining the preferences of the Z generation, launching short video content marketing, and conducting cross-border cooperation with Guoman IP.

Less than a year after its establishment, the repurchase rate of some products of Blue Department in e-commerce channels such as Tmall, JD.COM and Xiaohongshu exceeded 10%, and it received nearly 15 million yuan of angel round financing from Locke Fund. During the period of June 18, 2021, the sales of the whole network of Blue Department exceeded 10 million yuan, and the following month, Qifu Capital was obtained, and the Pre-A round of financing of 10 million yuan of Magellan Group Gaosaier was obtained.

At the beginning of this year, Blue Department announced the completion of tens of millions of A-round financing, which was led by Meihua Venture Capital, followed by Jiuchuang Capital and Jinhuifeng Capital. The rapid entry of VC in a short period of time further proves the potential of men’s skin care and beauty track, but the market brought by "men’s beauty economy" is far more than that.

The rising male economy:

In the future, boyfriends may be crazier than you in grabbing skin care products.

When the anxiety of face value spreads from women to men, boys care for their faces as much as girls after 1980s and 1990s. According to the latest data of Ai Media Consulting, there is not a big gap between male cosmetics consumption level and female cosmetics consumption level in 2021. The average monthly consumption of 23.3% male consumers is between 1,000-2,000 yuan, and that of 25.6% male consumers is between 500-1000 yuan, while the proportion of women with the same consumption level is 22.1% and 33.6% respectively.

In the past two years, many new roles have been born in men’s skin care and cosmetics track. In 2019, the original beauty agency, which focuses on men’s beauty and skin care, and JACB, which provides trend grooming and skin care for Z generation boys, were established one after another. One year later, the popularity of men’s beauty and skin care tracks continued to increase, and brands such as Liran, Blue, Tabula Rasa and Dear Boyfriend entered the market, and they successively obtained financing soon after their establishment.

Among them, men’s comprehensive personal care brand has completed six rounds of financing more than a year after it was officially launched. The largest round of the disclosed amount was the B+ round of financing of nearly 300 million yuan in April, 2021, which was led by Tiger Global, with bilibili as the strategic investor, and the old shareholders Wuyuan Capital, Red Dot China and SIG followed suit in excess. In the previous rounds of financing, there were also many well-known institutions.

At the same time, the financing was announced by Tabula Rasa, a men’s fashion makeup brand, which won the angel round financing of China at the speed of light and Huaying Kaitai with millions of dollars. Tabula Rasa was founded in 2020. Founder and CEO Yi Zheng is a VIP and art collector of many luxury brands. In his early years, he worked hard in the financial investment banking industry. Under his leadership, Tabula Rasa was launched only a few months ago, and the monthly growth rate of sales exceeded 100%.

In addition, DearBoyFriend, a men’s grooming brand, also received tens of millions of RMB Series A financing from Black Ant Capital, Jinding Capital, Jinshajiang Venture Capital and Huachuang Capital in March 2021. This is the first self-owned consumer brand hatched by Zanyi and Jinshajiang Venture Capital in early 2020. One year later, DearBoyFriend’s monthly sales exceeded 10 million, and male buyers accounted for more than 90%.

For a long time, men have been ranked at the end of the consumer group, and the traditional investment value is compared with "men are not as good as dogs". However, with the younger generation of male consumers having a certain economic strength, the demand for male consumption has rapidly emerged and is constantly showing a diversified trend. Like the blue department, emotional factors such as game co-branding and trend packaging gradually enter the product elements.

A VC who focuses on the consumption track once said that boys are actually willing to spend money and are willing to spend a lot of money, but the money will be placed in a specific category with less explicit; On the other hand, men pay more attention to quality and practicality when buying, so their decision-making is relatively rational and the frequency of repurchase is relatively high. But this label has also changed at present, and these changes are the key to embracing the future.

Among them, the most obvious thing is that men’s appearance anxiety is magnified on social media, and they are willing to spend money on their faces like girls, thus giving birth to more and more male beauty and skin care brands. In the Double Eleven in 2021, Tmall data showed that the growth rate of men’s make-up in Z generation has reached 122%, and the growth rate of men’s skin care is 82%.

Vilen, a partner of Wuyuan Capital, once mentioned that "the demand of a new generation of male consumers for beauty image continues to evolve, and the cognition and creation of personal image need new product brands in new crowds and social scenes." The consumption habits of Z generation men have broken the traditional thinking. Maybe one day, boys will be as crazy as their girlfriends in the live room of skin care and beauty.

Original title: "When the boys put on the mask, VC came"