Starting from Minsk, the capital of Belarus, drive more than 50 kilometers northeast to Geely (Belarus) Automobile Co., Ltd.. Looking around, rows of neat factories stand on the plain. This factory, located between borisov and the famous industrial city of Jogino, covers an area of 118 hectares and has a design capacity of 60,000 vehicles per year. It is planned to increase to 120,000 vehicles in the second phase. This factory is the first automobile joint venture project between China and Belarus, and it is also the only passenger car manufacturer operating in Belarus at present. Belarusian President Lukashenko said: "China-Belarus friendship goes back to ancient times, and friends from China helped us realize our dream of domestic cars. Belarus hopes to promote the all-round development of the supporting industrial chain of passenger cars through cooperation with China and Geely Automobile. "

　　"The completion of the factory has filled the gap in the passenger car industry in Belarus"

　　The English name of Geely (Belarus) Automobile Co., Ltd. is BELGEE, which is taken from the English letter combination of "Belarus" and "Geely". According to Cheng Wenan, the company’s deputy general manager in charge of production, the Geely Belarus project started construction in May 2015 and was completed and put into operation in July 2017, with a total investment of 329 million US dollars. This is the first modern automobile production line in Belarus. In less than 30 months, Geely has completed the factory construction of painting, welding, assembly and auxiliary facilities.

　　Walking into the factory exhibition hall, three new cars attracted the attention of reporters. "These three cars are Bo Yue, Yuanjing SUV and Emgrand, which are produced by our factory respectively. They are our flagship cars and have already started mass production." Gennady Svedelsky, general manager of the joint venture company, told reporters. Svedersky, wearing a work uniform with the word "BELGEE" printed on it, has another important position — — First Deputy Minister of Industry of Belarus. The deputy minister of industry is also the general manager of the joint venture company, which shows that the Belarusian government attaches great importance to this project.

　　"For Belarus, this factory has important strategic significance," Svedersky said. "Before Geely came, China could only produce trucks and agricultural vehicles." The Belarusian government has been trying to develop its own passenger car industry for many years, and has cooperated with car companies in some developed countries. However, these companies are unwilling to share technology with Belarus, and only position it as an "assembly workshop". Finally, the Ministry of Industry of Belarus negotiated with Geely Holding Group and reached a cooperation agreement.

　　On November 17, 2017, Geely Holding Group and Belarus Automobile Factory jointly built the all-part passenger car manufacturing plant, and held the ceremony of putting into production and the first Bo Yue car produced in Belarus off the assembly line. Belarusian President Lukashenko said at the event: "Our friends in China responded to my request, helped us build such a good automobile factory, and provided low-interest loans for it. The completion of the factory has filled the gap in the passenger car industry in Belarus. "

　　Svedelsky said that both Belarus and China are very optimistic about the prospects of cooperation, and the cars produced by the joint venture factory have great market demand. As an international modern automobile enterprise, Geely also provides technical support for the joint venture company and sends experts. "Thanks to Geely, we have set up a factory to assemble engines, car seats and other related products. These products can not only meet the needs of Belarus, but also be sold to other countries. "

　　"We introduced capital and technology from China and created new jobs."

　　Into the production workshop, modern production lines and supporting facilities make people shine. Nikolai Lisovschi, chief engineer of the company, told reporters excitedly: "The establishment of the joint venture company is conducive to promoting the economic development of Belarus. We introduced capital and technology from China, created new jobs and opened up the sales market. "

　　Lisovschi used to work in Minsk Automobile Factory, which produces heavy trucks. He told reporters: "Our factory has not been established for a long time, like a child who needs to be cared for. I get along well with my colleagues in China, and I can learn a lot from them. The factory has a good momentum of development. " In Lisovschi’s view, working in such a modern enterprise is "very beautiful", and it is also a great opportunity for young people to develop their careers. He said: "Our car has a good sales prospect, good quality and fashionable appearance. Now not only our own employees buy it, but ordinary people also buy it. "

　　Tang Shengguo, deputy general manager of Geely Overseas Manufacturing Center, told reporters that Geely (Belarus) Automobile Co., Ltd. enjoys special preferential policies, including 50% discount on construction fund loans, free land allocation and exemption from land use fees. In addition, the Belarusian government also promotes the sales of Geely automobile from the policy level. For example, all government agencies and units are required to give priority to Geely.

　　The Ministry of Finance of Belarus has issued a discount policy for natural persons in Belarus to buy Geely cars. Individuals buy cars by installment, with a down payment of 10%, which will be paid off in seven years, and the annual loan interest is as low as 1.9%. Geely Automobile was also recommended as the designated vehicle for the 2019 European Youth Games in Minsk, and the Belarusian government purchased 300 vehicles at one time as service vehicles during the games.

　　Panait Mariana vasilyevich, who won the title of "Miss Belarus" in 2018, won the long-awaited prize — — White Geely SUV. She shared with reporters the feeling of driving a Geely car: "This is my first car. I drive to and from Minsk and other cities almost every day. This car is easy to control and has a lot of space inside, so it is very comfortable to sit inside. "

　　"Belarus and China are carrying out fruitful cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative"

　　Vladimir Bodmako, head of the advertising and marketing department of Geely (Belarus) Automobile Co., Ltd., told reporters that the cars produced by Geely (Belarus) currently rank ninth in sales in Belarus, and it is expected to rank fifth next year and enter the top three in three years. He said: "The cars produced by our company are loved by many users. This is a car produced in Belarus and therefore has a high degree of recognition. "

　　Lisovschi said, "Geely (Belarus) Automobile Co., Ltd. was put into production by Belarus and China in ‘ Belt and Road ’ A model of mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation within the framework. " He spoke highly of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and believed that the Belt and Road Initiative has broad prospects. He said: "Belarus strongly supports and actively participates in ‘ Belt and Road ’ There are many similarities between Belarus and China at the beginning of reform and opening-up, and it is necessary to expand foreign cooperation. China is a great country, and we are honored to have China as a strategic partner. We are willing to deepen and expand this relationship. "

　　Svedelsky also pointed out, "China has made great achievements in its reform and opening-up policy, and Belarus is also implementing policies aimed at promoting economic modernization and improving efficiency. Both Belarus and China are ‘ Belt and Road ’ Within the framework of fruitful cooperation, apart from the joint venture project of Geely Automobile, Belarus and China are still ‘ Boulder ’ A large number of similar factories have been built in China-Belarus Industrial Park. He said, "‘ Belt and Road ’ We can give full play to the respective advantages of Belarus and China, especially the experts from China brought their experience to Belarus. ‘ Belt and Road ’ Let’s get closer. "

　　(People’s Daily, Minsk)

The biennial Shanghai Auto Show is about to kick off. According to the introduction of Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition, the 20th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition will be held in the National Convention and Exhibition Center (Shanghai) from April 18 to 27, and tickets will be sold from now on (11th).

As the "weather vane" of the global automobile industry, the 2023 Shanghai Auto Show attracted more than 1,000 companies to participate actively, with a total exhibition area of over 360,000 square meters, and 13 indoor pavilions of the National Convention and Exhibition Center (Shanghai) were opened.

As the first world-renowned heavyweight economic and trade activity in Shanghai after the epidemic, this year’s Shanghai Auto Show can be described as colorful. More than 100 world premiere cars will be unveiled collectively. The chairman of the global board of directors and the global CEO of important multinational auto companies will be present in person, and the heads of the six major domestic auto groups and independent brands will also be present. In addition, this year’s auto show also invited mainstream auto brands and first-line parts suppliers at home and abroad to participate in high specifications, as well as leading enterprises from new energy manufacturing, future travel, chips, radar, ADAS, autonomous driving solutions, car networking and high-precision maps to showcase the latest technologies and products.

In addition to "car watching", major car manufacturers and related exhibitors will also hold various new product press conferences at their respective booths. During the same period of the exhibition, the organizers will also hold many trade talks and technical exchange activities, as well as many special lectures, procurement matching meetings and trade fairs, covering new energy, intelligent networking, hydrogen energy and smart cars. Among them, from April 19th to 20th, the 7th International Key Technology Forum will be held in Shanghai Intercontinental Hotel, focusing on industry trends and releasing technology roadmap; On April 20th, "GTIC Smart Car Innovation Summit" will be held at the National Convention and Exhibition Center to show the new trend of industrial structure driven by intelligence.

After more than 40 years of development, Shanghai Auto Show has become the only international A-class auto show covering the whole vehicle, automobile supply chain and automobile technology enterprises in the world. It also has the largest number of exhibitors in the world, representing not only one of the highest levels of China Auto Show, but also one of the highest levels of China brand exhibitions.

The theme of this year’s auto show is "Embracing the new era of the automobile industry", which will further explore the implementation path of low-carbon transformation of the automobile industry; Focus more on building an exchange and cooperation platform to optimize the supply chain layout of the industrial chain; More intuitively show the sensory impact brought by the blending of automobile culture and fashion elements; More efforts will be made to build an automobile industry ecosystem driven by technological innovation and integration innovation, linking the world and cross-border cooperation, and depicting the infinite possibilities that cars will bring to people’s lives in the future.

Tickets for the 2023 Shanghai Auto Show are all electronic tickets. Visitors need to purchase in advance and complete real-name registration through the official ticketing program of the Shanghai Auto Show. Tickets for the same day will not be sold at the exhibition site. After purchasing tickets with real-name authentication in advance, the audience must check their valid certificates and enter the venue. Non-Chinese mainland audience will enter the venue with valid certificates such as passports (non-Chinese mainland audience will enter the venue with valid certificates such as passports), and they will visit in strict accordance with the date marked on the electronic tickets. On the schedule, April 18-19 is the media day, which only receives news media at home and abroad; April 20-21 is Professional Audience Day; April 22nd to 27th is the Professional and Public Audience Day.

Image source @ vision china

Text | The forefront of entrepreneurship, author | Li Xiaofan, editor | Feng Yu

The beauty circle has changed.

A few years ago, China brand was hard to find in the world’s high-end makeup market, and most of China’s beauty market was occupied by brands such as the United States, Japan and South Korea. However, with the emergence and growth of domestic beauty players, this phenomenon has been reversed.

From large advertisements in elevators to celebrity endorsements and bloggers bringing goods, domestic beauty seems to have been riding the dust. More importantly, beauty has become a benchmark industry in the trend of new domestic products.

However, behind the heat wave, some industrial problems have gradually been exposed. On platforms such as Xiaohongshu and bilibili, many bloggers have given a "lightning protection guide" in the evaluation of domestic beauty products; There are even bloggers who point out that some domestic brands have plagiarism and imitation in design.

At the time when domestic beauty cosmetics were in full swing, a pot of cold water was pouring down.

About five years ago, when Guo Xianger just became a beauty blogger, he found that few beauty bloggers used domestic beauty products.

Now, only a few years have passed, and she has seen that most beauty bloggers have several domestic products. In her own videos, domestic brands appear in almost every issue.

Especially with the rise of a "new domestic product" trend in China, beauty cosmetics, as a representative industry, has been in the limelight for a while.Among the rising brands, the most dazzling ones are Perfect Diary and Huaxizi.

In 2017, the perfect diary was born. It took only two years, and the sales of its parent company reached 3.5 billion yuan. In the same year that Perfect Diary was established, Hua Xizi was born. In the same two years, its annual sales of Tmall also reached nearly 2 billion yuan.

In this year’s Tmall 618 makeup brand TOP10, Hua Xizi and Perfect Diary were ranked first and third respectively.

New domestic brands are emerging one after another. For example, in March 2020, a domestic skin care brand named PMPM was launched. According to public data, the GMV of the brand was 150,000 yuan in the month when it was launched, and after six months, the GMV increased by 100 times.

The amazing rise speed of domestic beauty cosmetics can’t help but make people stunned. "It is rare to see any international beauty brand that can achieve such a volume in a few years." Diu Diu, founder of Xinran Advertising and beauty blogger, told "the forefront of entrepreneurship".

Cutting-edge beauty cosmetics became popular overnight and quickly opened the market, which became the target that many domestic brands looked forward to. However, this speed of development has also led to the market gradually becoming impetuous.

On platforms such as Little Red Book and Tik Tok, some beauty bloggers pointed out that some products were not easy to use in makeup evaluation.

"To be honest, there is no makeup to satisfy me in the domestic products now." Senior beauty blogger "Luo Wangyu" is outspoken in the video.

The performance of some make-up products is not satisfactory. In Hua Xizi’s product evaluation, Luo Wangyu once fired at Hua Xizi’s "Loose Smoke Eyeliner" and "Loose Smoke Butterfly Feather Mascara (Slim Edition)". "The eyeliner is like a primary school student’s mark, and the eyelashes are caked and not long." He said in the video.

In addition to the product quality being spit out, there is still a more serious problem in the domestic beauty industry-brands may imitate or even copy each other.

Diu Diu revealed that some domestic brands of cosmetics or skin care products will find some mature foreign brands for 1:1 re-engraving. "At most, they change their LOGO and set up their own concepts."

On bilibili, the UP owner "Open-shelf King Boy" once released a video, taking stock of "copying" domestic brands of other beauty brands.

She mentioned in the video, for example, the outer packaging of a lipstick of NOVO is similar to YSL except for the LOGO, but the color number is quite different.

Figure/"Open King Boy" video screenshot

Some domestic beauty players not only copy foreign brands, but also have serious involution between domestic brands.

"susisu (domestic make-up brand) has launched a quicksand eye shadow tray, which is beautifully packaged and priced at 148 yuan in Taobao flagship store. A few days after the launch of this product, a number of products with almost the same appearance appeared on the market. " Diu diu means.

According to the rough statistics of "the forefront of entrepreneurship", in addition to susisu, there are at least six similar eye shadows on Taobao, and one of them is a Thai brand. Among these seven products, the cheapest one only costs 11.5 yuan. In addition, there are two products, but the eye shadow tray is changed from square to round, and the design has not changed much.

Figure/Taobao screenshot

Imitation, plagiarism, involution … It seems that the domestic beauty products that are running for their lives also need a pot of cold water to cool down.

Not only is the product extremely involuted, but the strong marketing attributes of the beauty industry also make traffic the lifeline of the product.

"If you have been exposed to cosmetics for a long time, you will see many helpless phenomena. It is the grandfather who has money to promote, standing at the top of the food chain, and all those who have no money to promote are buried under the iceberg." Little Red Book beauty blogger "Ollie Oris" said in his video.

At the moment when new brands are emerging one after another, in order to get out of the circle, brand owners have to spend some time on marketing. And some domestic beauty brands are well known to the public, and they really rely on high-frequency marketing.

"The frequency of domestic beauty advertisements is very high. There are several brands that have fixed cooperation with me. When new products are launched, they will be promoted. When they are frequent, there will be two or three advertisements a month." Guo Xianger said.

In marketing tactics, domestic beauty brands also show differences from international brands.

"International brands are well known to consumers. The main purpose of their marketing is to promote brand influence, so they will cooperate with celebrities, heads and other heavyweights to promote them." Diu diu said.

Domestic beauty brands are better at using "human sea tactics". "For example, some brands will even cooperate with more than 1,000 bloggers in a single month to promote their star products." Diu Diu introduced. "Many domestic brands don’t have too many requirements on the magnitude of KOL in the early stage of promotion. One is to save costs, and the other is that their popularity is not big enough, and they may not be able to cooperate with head bloggers and stars in the growth period."

The parent company of Perfect Diary, Yixian E-commerce, once stated in the prospectus that the company has cooperated with nearly 15,000 KOL with different popularity, including Li Jiaqi and Viya, among which more than 800 have more than 1 million followers.

However, domestic beauty cosmetics are gradually approaching international brands, and one obvious performance is to find celebrity endorsements.

In October 2020, Zhou Xun officially announced that it would become the global spokesperson of the perfect diary brand; In May of this year, Dilraba officially announced that it would become the global spokesperson of colorkey Ke Laqi brand …

There are also differences between domestic brands and international brands in the evaluation criteria of marketing effect. Different from international brands, which emphasize the subtle influence of marketing on consumers, domestic brands pay more attention to the immediate conversion rate, that is, the effect of bringing goods.

The most intuitive performance is that many bloggers have added shopping links or soft implants in their videos. When choosing KOL, the brand will also measure the data of its historical goods, and cooperate with bloggers with higher selective prices.

"Users have the habit of buying international brands and may consume them at any time, but for domestic products, if consumers don’t buy them today, they may not take the initiative to buy them in the future." Diu diu said.

In addition, the pricing of domestic brands is low, and the cost of trial and error for consumers is low, which also provides the possibility for brands to assess the instant conversion rate.

Overwhelming marketing seems to be the key password for the new brand to break the circle.Naturally, they also invest a lot in marketing. "As far as I know, there are no fewer than five domestic beauty brands with a marketing budget of over 100 million this year." Diu diu said.

Too frequent marketing may attract users’ disgust. "When bloggers on all platforms are pushing the same product, consumers will inevitably have rebellious psychology."

If the marketing investment is too much, the expenses for product research and development will naturally decrease. This has also led to some domestic beauty brands being called "marketing with heart and making products with feet" by the outside world.

Beauty brands are crazy about marketing, but do they make money?

It doesn’t seem to be.

Diu Diu said that the marketing expenses of most products often account for 50%-60%, including anchor commission, pure grass type marketing, etc., plus operation and maintenance, manpower, warehousing and other costs, so that the brand hardly makes any money.

But in order to gain a foothold in the market, marketing is both helpless and inevitable for the brand.

"I sometimes feel that some brands pay too much attention to marketing, but this is something that can’t be helped. As a person in the beauty industry, I know about new products through marketing, not to mention consumers. " Guo Xianger said.

"There are some very old cosmetics brands with good research and development capabilities and product quality, but the products are not hot." Diu Diu also noticed the influence of marketing on products.

There may be two reasons behind this, one is that the brand’s marketing ideas can’t keep up, and the second may be that there is no money to do marketing.

"Some brand new products are put on the shelves, and 500 to 1,000 talents are found for promotion at one time, while some traditional domestic brands hope for’ tap water’. However, the volume and volume of’ tap water’ obviously cannot compete with the pyramid promotion of new brands. There are still some old players who know to do marketing, but their ideas and styles are not fast enough, so they have been eliminated by the market in the wave of Internet e-commerce. " Diu diu said.

This makes it difficult for domestic brands to reach consumers without marketing. Insufficient marketing can’t stimulate the splash, and too much marketing will lead to consumer disgust. This is a difficult battle to control.

Another problem in front of domestic beauty cosmetics comes from consumers’ stereotyped cognition.

In the minds of many consumers, domestic brands are equated with "cheap prices", and few consumers are willing to look at the design and product development behind the products. This also leads to the brand’s lack of motivation to increase R&D costs in the short term.

Fortunately, in the domestic beauty industry full of thorns, there are also some products with both reputation and quality.

Guo Xianger once bought an eyebrow pencil with "khaki color" and one from 9.9 yuan. "The color and durability are good, and it will not agglomerate. The eyebrows drawn are well-rooted." She said.

She once compared the eyebrow pencil of "khaki color" with the eyebrow pencil of "Bei Lingfei", an American make-up brand, which cost more than 160 yuan. "I can’t see any difference by using these two eyebrows to brush the eyebrows on the left and right sides, and I even think the’ khaki color’ looks better."

Although some products have been vomited, domestic beauty may still be worthy of consumers’ patience."Even if it is an international brand, no product is perfect. For example, a lip glaze, if it is bright, it must be sticky; If it is matte, then I will accept it to a certain extent. " Guo Xiang said.

Surprisingly, the growth space of domestic beauty cosmetics is not limited to the domestic market, and brands such as Huaxizi, Perfect Diary, Zhiyouquan and Tangduo are all seeking to go to sea.

"In 2020, we began to make efforts to go to sea. By the end of May 2021, Perfect Diary had become the top cosmetics seller in Vietnam on the Shopee platform, the top cosmetics seller in Singapore and Malaysia, and the Top 1 in loose powder sales in the Philippine market." The person in charge of the perfect diary said.

Most domestic beauty brands set their first stop at sea in Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asian countries, and these products with the imprint of China are also very popular overseas.

"The concentric lock lipstick with China elements sold out quickly on the first day of its launch, and once entered the top three of the Japanese Amazon lipstick sales list." The relevant person in charge of Hua Xizi said.

There are also Japanese netizens who marvel at the West Lake Imprint Gift Box of Hua Xizi, inheriting the craft design of oriental aesthetics, and its related Twitter content was once on the Japanese Twitter hot search. "According to feedback from many users, our Miao Impression Gift Box has also triggered reverse purchasing by Japanese users, and the price has even been fired from 900 yuan to 2,000 yuan." The person in charge added.

Figure/Hua Xizi official (Hua Xizi concentric lock lipstick)

There is no denying that domestic beauty cosmetics are indeed immature, but users should also treat their achievements in a short time dialectically. There is no perfect person, and there is no perfect brand.

In the domestic beauty industry, giants and upstarts have emerged. But if you want to further expand your territory, players need to put out more chips.