1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 376: You Should Just Go A
China has never lacked smart people. If a young girl who has just graduated for a year can see through the market pain points, other people can naturally smell them as well.

In fact, with the scale of 1998 billion pieces and the market penetration rate of 300% in 20 as the dividing line, after the domestic sanitary napkin market passed the market introduction period and entered the stable development period, various new sanitary napkins that intended to seize the market segment by meeting the segmented demands have emerged in an endless stream.

Among them, of course, there are medicated sanitary napkins and scented sanitary napkins.

Let’s not talk about scented sanitary napkins for now. This thing seems to be able to solve some of the pain points of consumers, but there is no technical barrier to speak of, and the experience of consumers using it may not be that good.

If the odor is not obvious, then it's fine. This thing is not bad as a "fragrant" supplement, but if the odor is more obvious... I'm sorry, the human nose is actually very sensitive. The strange smell similar to that produced by spraying perfume to cover up body odor is enough to give everyone nightmares at night.

What really needs to be mentioned is medicated sanitary napkins.

In later generations, even so-called straight men should have heard of the two brands "Rizi Kushen Sanitary Napkins" and "ABC"... There are many companies and brands trying to enter the medicinal sanitary napkin segment, and these two are considered to be the most well-known.

But in fact, after market research, you will find that the field of medicated sanitary napkins actually has many difficulties and disadvantages that are unknown to outsiders.

1. If it is not false propaganda or just a pretense, the production process and cost of real medicinal sanitary napkins, especially those containing effective Chinese medicine ingredients, are significantly higher than those of ordinary sanitary napkins.

The reason is very simple. This is an external item for private parts. It is impossible to ignore irritation in pursuit of efficacy. Therefore, many truly effective Chinese medicine formulas cannot be used at all. We can only turn to some effective substances with very weak irritation, and then in order to pursue costs, we simply add only a single effective substance...such as matrine.

But you have to know that the separation and extraction of effective ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine is not cheap, and they are used in items that are easily volatile, such as sanitary napkins. Therefore, in order to maintain the efficacy, the market turnover cycle of the product must be taken into consideration during production, and the amount of effective substances added must be consciously increased... This ratio will often fluctuate between 10% and 30% depending on the company's business conditions.

There are already one or two more steps than ordinary sanitary napkins, and when adding substances, excess amount is required. Even if only a single effective substance is added, cost is still a difficult problem.

2. The functions of medicated sanitary napkins on the market in later generations are basically all focused on "killing bacteria and reducing inflammation". But in fact, due to the particularity of female structure, if sanitary napkins with anti-inflammatory effects are used for a long time, it is very easy to cause bacterial flora disorders and pH imbalance, thereby causing more gynecological diseases.

This is a very troublesome risk for a business.

To be honest, this is only in China. If it is in Europe or the United States, if consumers suffer from other diseases due to using your products, you will definitely be sued to the point of bankruptcy.

However, although Chinese consumers rarely take you to court, once they come to their senses, with the help of the media, you can easily lose.

3. From the actual market reaction, medicated sanitary napkins are more likely to cause allergic reactions than ordinary sanitary napkins.

Allergic reactions have always been the most troublesome problem in the sanitary napkin industry. This thing is definitely the most sensitive and most concerned personal item for women...even more sensitive than underwear and bras.

Therefore, once an allergic reaction occurs and makes women feel uncomfortable, consumers will almost without exception change brands... In fact, for quite a long time, the reason why nearly 3000 sanitary napkin companies have survived in China is that consumers have switched among many brands due to various discomforts.

Allergic reactions are the main cause of discomfort for consumers.

Of course, some of these allergic reactions are due to the overall low breathability of the sanitary napkin, some are due to the use of non-compliant fillers, some are due to excessive fluorescent agents, some are due to skin allergies to PE, and some are due to rejection reactions to other additives.

But overall, scented sanitary napkins and medicated sanitary napkins are definitely the hardest hit by allergic reactions.

………………

Obviously, with Dahua's current influence in Texas and the secretary Xiang Hui as the coordinator, even if a small fry like Bai Mengmeng is the project leader, he can easily collect valuable evaluation opinions from a large group of professionals... Naturally, the top authorities in the local medical field, especially the gynecological authorities, are indispensable.

Therefore, even without market verification, these professionals explained in detail the possible disadvantages and risks of medicated sanitary napkins and fragranced sanitary napkins during the first round of two-way communication, relying solely on their rich clinical experience and pharmacological deductions.

This made the young apprentice very distressed.

On one hand, there are huge business opportunities created through business models.

With the roundabout market segmentation strategy, she is confident that both medicated sanitary napkins and scented sanitary napkins can grab a market share in the short term. In addition to adding a star project to Dahua Company, it also provides a strong support point for the implementation of the Isolated Island No. 2 project.

But on the other hand, there are the negative impacts that these products may cause after they are put on the market.

The reason why she was confident that she could carve out a niche for herself amidst the pressure from Anle and Director Ma was, on the one hand, that the product itself was functional, but more importantly, she had confidence in the good mass base that her master had worked hard to build over a year.

She even thought of the channel strategy of "rely on Xia Liu at the grassroots level in rural areas and rely on Momo in the Central Plains cities".

Although the Solitary Island II project is important, if these products are designed and put on the market and have more negative impacts, then she really can't calculate the gains and losses.

After learning from her master for more than half a year, she is very clear that reputation is the core asset of Yang Mo, Xia Liu Sales Agency, and even the drilling company. Once the negative impact of the product experience is large and spread by word of mouth, although it will not cause much economic loss on the surface, nor will it really affect the market expansion of these products, there is undoubtedly another huge hidden danger... The emotional trust of the masses in the "Momo Series" and the "Xia Liu Series" may gradually drop from 100% to 95%.

This may not seem like a big deal at first glance. After all, no one is perfect, and it is normal for new products to have some problems. A consumer compensation mechanism can be introduced.

But her father and Uncle Zhang once told her that some things cannot be discussed; what's more, the Drilling Company and Dahua Company are both state-owned enterprises...state-owned enterprises that are full of extra-curricular skills.

However, when Bai Mengmeng heard that his master had predicted the disadvantages and market risks of medicated sanitary napkins and fragranced sanitary napkins before he could even say anything, he suddenly felt like he had found his backbone.

My master is so powerful, he can definitely show me a way forward!

………………

"Qian Ya, first of all, I want to criticize you. You have followed me for such a long time, but you still don't have a mature macro perspective!"

Yang Mo rarely called his apprentice by his nickname, and his emotions were somewhat complicated, feeling gratified but also sad.

"Let's not talk about whether it's an overreaction to start playing with functional segmentation in order to cope with industry competition in this period of rapid compound growth. But just to say that when you learned that medicated sanitary napkins have serious drawbacks, you still set your sights on this, you deserve a few slaps on the head!"

Upon hearing this, Bai Mengmeng stuck out her tongue guiltily.

My master taught me that before the overall market is fully propped up, the most important thing to do is to focus on mainstream products, consolidate consumers' basic concepts in their minds, make the cake together, and make money by relying on the rapid market growth, rather than rushing to divide the market and triggering a premature war in the industry... This may very likely cause the original big cake to become a medium-sized cake, or even a small cake.

Although she didn't know why her master said that, her master also emphasized that different platforms require different perspectives and ways of thinking.

If I were just the head of an ordinary company, I naturally wouldn't need to understand these things, but since I am already in a state-owned enterprise platform like Dahua Company with a huge actual scale, and I will have to return to Guizhou to assist my father in the future, then I must remember these words.

Seeing her like this, Yang Mo snorted unhappily: "Since you know that the GAP planting base and those authentic medicinal materials with huge production capacity are one of our real core competitiveness, then you must not touch this core asset at will before you are absolutely sure!"

"Do you know that launching medicated sanitary napkins is equivalent to announcing that we will start diversifying in the field of traditional Chinese medicine?"

"Do you know that if the medicinal sanitary napkins produce a large number of adverse reactions in the market, it will be equivalent to ineffectively diluting the brand value of the four words "authentic Chinese medicinal materials" and further greatly reducing the industry weight of the tens of thousands of acres of GAP planting bases in our hands amid many doubts!?"

"Don't think it's impossible! Humans are very associative creatures. When they see an exposed arm, they will think of your naked body. Even if there is no one else to add fuel to the fire, they will still smell the stench and gather around your crack!"

As mentioned above, there are many cases in later generations where large companies have ended up in disgrace or even collapsed in the process of diversification strategies;
But compared with "unrelated diversification", "related diversification" is really fatal.

The former will at most make you lose your capital, and turn from a billionaire into a small rich man; but if you are not careful with the latter, due to a chain reaction, you may even lose all your basic capital.

Therefore, Yang Mo has always been very averse to touching the words "authentic medicinal materials" in some relatively sensitive fields without being sure. So he has always been very cautious about involving in the fields of domestic health care products, infant products, and women's intimate products... The rules of state-owned enterprises and private enterprises are very different, so making money or not has never been his first starting point.

Bai Mengmeng naturally knew the significance of the four words "authentic medicinal materials" to his master, and he also knew that his master had begun to use the authentic medicinal materials of Qi and Lu and the "Ten Flavors of Lu" to gradually play a big game. Therefore, although Isolated Island No. 2 is important, it is nothing compared to the things that the master really intends to do... Therefore, in many ways, the starting point of the medicinal sanitary napkin project did make the mistake of putting the cart before the horse.

Thinking of this, the little apprentice's face flushed, and he looked at Yang Mo with shame: "Then... Master, how about we give up this sanitary napkin project and cancel the meeting with the person in charge of Yaohong Sanitary Napkin Factory this afternoon?"

Yang Mo glared at her and said, "Why not? This is a huge market with the usage increasing by billions of pieces every year. It's also a product that is in urgent need. Why not do it?"

Bai Mengmeng felt relieved immediately, blinking and looking at his master: "Then...?"

Yang Mo snorted, "We have to do it, but we should not study those weird segmentation strategies for at least ten years, let alone rashly involve functional products... We are a central enterprise, and our foundation is not bad. We can just give it an A in a dignified manner!"

A over there! ? ? Bai Mengmeng was a little dumbfounded. She originally thought that her master would point out a direction that she had overlooked, and then cut in at an unexpected angle like a hot knife cutting through oil, but she didn't expect... to just A over there?

What kind of plan is this?
Yang Mo glanced at her unhappily: "Qian Ya, you have to remember that the more sensitive and private an industry is, the higher its head concentration effect will be, and the more it conforms to the [Seven Heads Rule] and the Pareto Rule... and obviously, sanitary napkins belong to this kind of industry;"

"So, in this kind of industry, unless you have completely lost your industry access advantage or you have no industry ambitions, you can't play fast and loose. You must compete with the public in terms of basic products that are widely recognized by the public... This is just like if a restaurant in Northeast China wants to be recognized by consumers, it must not only be able to make three dishes: Liuxu pork, sweet and sour pork, and three fresh vegetables, but also must be able to compete with the public in these three dishes... Do you understand this principle?"

Obviously, Bai Mengmeng had never eaten these dishes, but that didn't stop her from understanding.

A similar situation exists in Tongren. If a restaurant does not know how to make young ginger duck and rice tofu, or does not make these two things well, it will be difficult for the business to become popular... Although the reason is easy to be overlooked, it is not difficult to understand. There are some things you cannot take shortcuts.

Seeing his apprentice nod, Yang Mo hummed softly: "Besides, it's not like we don't have any advantages at all... We can even say that if we want to fight a protracted war, we have a natural advantage over other brands."

"First of all, as I just said, sanitary napkins are very private and sensitive products for women, which means that women will never easily switch to other similar products unless they feel uncomfortable... In terms of natural brand loyalty, this thing is definitely one of the best in all industries;"

"Therefore, with the current annual usage of only 20 billion pieces and the compound growth rate, the real cake of the sanitary napkin industry lies in the incremental market... What is a mere 20 billion pieces? There are nearly 4 million menstruating women in my country, and the conservative estimate is that the annual usage is more than billion pieces. With the popularization of sanitary napkins, the future cake is huge!"

"Think about it, as long as the product is comfortable to use and a consumer is attached after using it once, how huge is the potential for this incremental market?"

"And this thing is extremely sensitive. It is entirely conceivable that... no matter what brand your product is, in the early stages of entering the market, you may be able to attract a wave of customers through advertising, but it won't be long before you have to return to the real competition of the product's essence;"

"That is to say, after maintaining a moderate level of advertising exposure, any advertising investment for a new product is to attract traffic to the market. After a short advertising bonus period, the traffic will be shared by the entire industry... Therefore, in this industry, making the product experience good is better than anything else!"

After a slight pause, Yang Mo emphasized again: "As for the experience, we have a natural advantage with Texas as our back."

"I have said before that allergic reactions are the biggest problem for all sanitary napkin products. There are many reasons for allergic reactions, but at present, the quality of the material, especially the difference in breathability and skin-friendliness caused by different fillings, is a very important cause."

"You have to know that there are many kinds of filling materials for sanitary napkins nowadays. Some use chemical polymers as absorbent cores, some use pulp as absorbent cores, some use cotton wool as absorbent cores, and some use a mixture of these..."

"There is a misunderstanding among Chinese people nowadays that only industrialized things and things with high technological content are good. But in fact, even if we don't talk about the excessive chemical additives and quality issues of these materials, in terms of skin-friendliness and breathability, among the materials currently used in sanitary napkins, there is nothing more comfortable than natural cotton, and even its water absorption is much higher than most chemical materials."

"Although I have never used sanitary napkins and have not done in-depth research in this area, China has a history of using cotton for more than a thousand years. Over the years, with the adjustment of genes from generation to generation, I believe that compared to the chemical fibers that have only been in contact with for a few decades, the allergy of our skin to cotton should be negligible... The so-called allergy, to put it bluntly, is the rejection reaction of the human immune system to the contact substance. We must learn to look at the problem from the root!"

Bai Mengmeng nodded. The natural cotton with pores is very breathable. The reason why many women feel uncomfortable and itchy after using sanitary napkins is that some sanitary napkins become extremely breathable after absorbing the menstrual fluid, which causes bacteria to multiply rapidly in a high humidity and high temperature environment... In this regard, although the water absorption of cotton may not be as strong as that of some high molecular polymers, its breathability is undoubtedly much stronger.

Apart from that, as long as the quality level of the cotton is up to standard, its skin-friendliness is beyond reproach, otherwise there would be no sanitary napkins that need to be inserted into the body.

However, although with the current level of technology, using cotton as the absorbent core is the optimal solution for breathability, and they are backed by Texas, a major cotton producing area, as long as they can obtain strong support from local authorities, the cost of fillings will be extremely advantageous, but this does not allow them to gain a clear advantage in terms of user experience.

after all……

Thinking of this, the young apprentice's expression was a little embarrassed: "Master, although the absorbent core is very important, the main cause of sanitary napkin allergies is not just this... In fact, the largest contact area with the skin is the tape and PE film on both sides of the sanitary napkin. This thing is not breathable and is made of chemical materials. This is the main cause of skin allergies."

She knew that her master was a straight man and might not even know how to use a sanitary napkin. He might not even understand the difference between a sanitary napkin and a sanitary napkin, so she carefully reminded him.

Talking about the structure of sanitary napkins in front of a young girl, even though Yang Mo was thick-skinned, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. He scratched his head and said, "I know this. After talking about the material of the filler, I was going to mention some design improvements. "

"Well... although given the current actual situation, we can't find another way to make sanitary napkins without glue and PE film, and it is impossible to completely avoid the skin allergies caused by these things, but we can find a way to reduce the impact to a minimum!"

As he spoke, Yang Mo picked up the pack of straight sanitary napkins on the table with a look of disdain, which had nothing to do with the compact shape, and opened it, pointing at the edge strips on it: "Since this thing is not breathable, it's actually very simple. When making the PE film, just make more small holes on it... If there are more holes, wouldn't the breathability be improved?"

"Besides that, I think you should consider the consumer's perspective and put more effort into the design... For example, as far as I know, a sanitary napkin like this will not only severely rub the skin inside the thighs, but also often leak from the sides... Based on the human body structure, if we change this thing from a straight strip to a gourd shape, and then extend two side wings on both sides of the main contact area, wouldn't that solve the problem of leakage?"

After spending two minutes explaining the little he knew about the design points of future sanitary napkins, Yang Mo looked at his apprentice with a sad face: "Qian Ya, you have to remember that consumer experience is a science. You have to learn to integrate resources and cooperate with scientific research institutions such as universities to work on ergonomics and material upgrades... Qilu's basic industrial and scientific research levels are not as bad as you think. We are not afraid that you don't have requirements, but we are afraid that you can't put forward requirements with market application scenarios... Remember, these days, many technological advances are business-oriented."

"In addition, you must remember that you should do professional things professionally and distinguish between the primary and secondary. There are other projects to solve the pain points of inflammation during women's menstrual period. Don't always think about crossing over to the pharmaceutical industry. Since it is a project derived from the implementation of Solitary Island No. 2, you only need to focus on the two key points of [cotton] and [chemical fiber]!"

The young apprentice heard something, was startled, and nodded quickly.

He hesitated: "But Master, although the various product modification plans you just proposed can indeed greatly improve the consumer experience, the problem is that without the concept of functional segmentation, the sanitary napkins produced are still conventional products in a broad sense... Facing the competition from Anle and Director Ma, do we have so much money to invest in publicity and channels?"

This is a realistic problem. Dahua Company's book funds have been divided up this year. Even though the Dongying Command will provide considerable support to promote the implementation of the Isolated Island No. 2 project, the money will not be directly transferred to Dahua Company's account.

Therefore, if Yang Mo wants to maintain sufficient initiative, he must use the limited cash flow at hand to turn these projects around... Resources are easy to leverage, and those tertiary industry companies can be OK with a little coordination, but funds are extremely precious to Yang Mo today. If a large amount of real money is spent on advertising and channel competition for a sanitary napkin project, it is really not worth it.

Hearing this, Yang Mo smiled and said, "Why should we fight to the death with Anerle and Director Ma in the urban market right from the start? Sanitary napkins are a vast incremental market, and we have a good mass base in rural areas. Can't we go to the rural market in the early stage?"

Bai Mengmeng felt a little pain in her teeth: "Master, but if we want to enter the rural market, we must first lower the price. Unless we try to reduce the raw materials and production links, we will lose money on every pack sold... The consumption power in rural areas is there. With our mass base, it is not a big problem to guide them to use sanitary napkins, but the cost and price are the most fatal problems!"

Yang Mo smiled and said, "Then just do it the same as the original Momo Baizha. Sell at a loss in the name of discounts and promotions. Just treat it as the cost that must be paid to cultivate the market... Anyway, with the current economic development speed in China, it won't take a few years to adjust it back to the original price. If it doesn't work, we can launch upgraded products!"

As he spoke, he looked at his apprentice meaningfully: "Don't forget what our original purpose was. The more sanitary napkins we sell, the happier I will be."

The young apprentice was about to cry: "But, how can we bear this? Xialiu Sales Agency evaluated the data just last month. In the grassroots rural areas of Qilu alone, we can effectively influence more than 350 million people. If half of them are women, that's million people... With such a huge consumer group, how can we lose so much money?"

Yang Mo laughed: "Why are you in such a hurry? Have you ever seen the entire Baotu Spring? The water at Baotu Spring keeps bubbling all year round, but it has never dried up!"

Bai Mengmeng was stunned for a moment, then he understood: "Master, are you planning to take out a portion of the profits from other projects to subsidize the sanitary napkin project?"

The business empire Yang Mo has now begun to take shape. Whether it is Momo Baizha, Momo Bailu, Laoliu Chicken Breeding Center or the commercial street project, huge amounts of revenue will be brought in every quarter. Therefore, based on strategic considerations, it is really easy to take out some funds from other revenue items to make up for the losses of the sanitary napkin project... The gameplay of the project ecosystem is completely different from that of a single project, and "taking from the surplus and giving to the deficiency" is the most commonly used method.

Yang Mo shook his head. "Although sanitary napkins are a necessity for women, this industry lacks the most basic strategic significance. Therefore, whether from the perspective of a central enterprise or from commercial considerations, it will not be our focus... So unless it is absolutely necessary, I will not withdraw funds from other projects to subsidize it."

Bai Mengmeng was a little dumbfounded: "Then...?"

Yang Mo looked at this stupid apprentice with some tiredness: "Silly girl! Although I won't use the income from other projects to subsidize this project, it can subsidize the losses in the rural market of our country... You don't think that the channel resources we have are only for the rural grassroots market, right?"

Our channel resources?
In addition to the grassroots rural markets in Qi and Lu, and the urban channels in the three Central Plains provinces and Tianjin, what other channel resources do we have?
Suddenly, she saw Miss Mu walking into the office with a smile on her face and a pack of Yuxi cigarettes in her hand, and an idea flashed through her mind.

Yes!

How could I forget that we still have foreign trade channels with the Bear Country!

Sanitary napkins are a must-have product for women.

To be precise, it is a must-have product for women all over the world.

Foreign women are much more accepting of this thing than domestic women are now, and the base of the direct consumer group is also incomparable.

The most crucial thing is that not only is the light industry in the Bear Country in a terrible state, the current situation is also very bad. For light industrial products such as sanitary napkins, which are in urgent need, there is no need to worry about sales as long as there are no serious quality problems.

Although the northern trade route of this future master's wife is different from that of ordinary traders and has many rigid rules, after selling the sanitary napkins, she will not directly reap huge profits like other traders, but needs to convert them through some intermediary agency. But no matter what, the market demand there is terrifyingly huge, and the net profit of more than 100% is absolutely guaranteed. Therefore, it is easy to use the profits there to subsidize the losses in the country.

not only,

I remember the "substitution plan" that Tugou mentioned before...

Connecting this to some of the things his master had just emphasized, the young disciple instantly understood a lot of things and nodded vigorously: "Master, I understand!"

"You're right, we should just go A, whether it's at home or abroad!"

(End of this chapter)