If you want to learn about advanced marketing strategy, and about a big advertising campaign, you should read this article about Lyfen, a Chinese Brand that sells million online in China. Who has never dreamed of launching his own company? Or maybe getting a new job and becoming the new prodigy of the company? The one who is going to change everything. The new star is going to get his coffee ready even before entering the office. In terms of the success story, we will tell you more about the Lyfen case. This seafood snack company broke all the records in China. A story that makes you understand that a simple decision can change everything.
The Chinese snack market
According to the think tank EO Intelligence, the sales volume of China’s snack market will reach 3 trillion yuan in 2020 and surpass 4 trillion yuan in 2025. This market experienced tremendous growth of 422% between 2002 and 2016.
Given the consumption upgrade and the COVID-19 pandemic, China’s snack market will experience rapid growth in the coming years with a trend toward fresh and healthy food.
Consumers are paying more and more attention to eating healthy and fresh food. According to a report issued by Beijing-based think tank EO Intelligence, up to 71 percent of the surveyed consumers said snacks are of equal importance to their physical and psychological health. Over 85 percent of millennials, who are the main consumers in the market, said that freshness and healthy qualities are their top focus in choosing snacks.
Read as well: China is a paradise for Snacks Brands
1. When Selling Snacks in China, Everything is about leverage
When starting a new project, we have to understand one thing: either we can do things by ourselves, or we’ll need some help.
Laiyifen, which mean “get one share” in Chinese, makes and sells cheap and popular traditional Chinese snacks from melon seeds and peanuts to ducks’ stomach and dried beef. Shanghai Laiyifen, which has the biggest number of shops in China, aims to increase sales of overseas sourced products by 30 percent in the next few years, as it’s facing an increasing demand from a growing middle class. The imported products range from Australia’s milk and Italian spa water to South Korean cheese codfish sausages. However, like any company willing to drag some new market share, Lyfen was in need of new solutions to develop its business.
And which better solution than developing its client’s portfolio? Let’s do some marketing, maybe networking, let’s put some discounts here and there… When doing arts, you can choose to make a draft and play it cool, having fun. Or you can target success, and prepare yourself for a real paint on 2x3m toil ready to be exposed. Well, in business it’s the same. If you’re not sure how to perform and use the best strategy which will bring you the success you need, you can call on experts. An outsider that will make you save both time and money.
The Lyfen Case Study: Chinese Snack Leader
That is what Lyfen did when contacting GMA. I am sure that in your carrier many ideas came to your mind. But tell me, are you afraid? Maybe you don’t want to contact advisers because you think they are overpriced? Maybe you think that delegating is risky and you will better do it yourself.
Unfortunately, we can’t find a magic formula for success but there’s one thing sure. Don’t stop believing in your projects! Don’t stop believing in your dreams, in your objectives, and give yourself the chance to achieve them.
And here again, that’s what Lyfen did.
A simple mission:
“Develop my market shares and turnover”. That’s all we need.
Starting there, we developed a new concept. A mediatic buzz. They needed one to change the market trend. A 1-million-dollar solution! (charged much cheaper…)
As a Digital Marketing Expert on the Chinese market, we decided to rebrand the company based on the “souvenirs” of an entire generation.
Our mass destruction weapon: creativity.
To do so, we changed the entire product while creating a new packaging under the sign of the dragon.
Creative genius or maybe just professional marketing, we decided to make the brand go from the snack industry to the gifts one.
Imagine turning crisps into a new item that will suit all your friends. That is a hard bet yeah? Especially considering that 80% of people receiving gifts in China are women. Not your friend Bryan, but WOMEN. And which woman won’t be super happy to receive shrimps’ crisps in a box? The perfect gift, right? Very few tried, none succeed.
None but us.
2. In China, don’t just sell snacks
In the west, we are very quick to condemn everything as gimmicky, cringy, and so on. In China, a candy brand-inspired lipstick would not be seen as such, nor would a special snack packaging. On the contrary, special design and packaging add a unique value to your products that consumers appreciate.
Lyfen 2019 Mid-Autumn festival Tmall Campaign: a Snack brand Online Success Story
At GMA we love challenges. Anytime someone is facing a difficult situation, we celebrate it. Something like “Chef, we don’t know how to do that… Champagne!”
When you reach a certain level, you understand that any challenge you face is a new opportunity to grow. And we’ll show you exactly how. Finding a way to sell you shrimps crisps as the new hype gift is a real challenge.
But do you remember while being a kid, when you were staring at this wonderful biscuit jar? Your favorite one. And when you were living a real adventure just to put a hand on it? This glorifying moment when reaching it. Until the moment when you realize that your parents already finished all of it and turned it into a sewing box….
A kid’s ultimate deception but parents’ best investment. Yeah! It was delicious and they can use it to do something else with it. It’s awesome.
Following this, adding brainstorming sessions, some design, and imagination, we transformed a company offering snacks into a company offering “premium” gourmet snacks within a beautiful jewelry box. The art of double use.
This, plus a strong digital campaign, and work on the brand image, and BOOM!
You’d be surprised by all we can get with some talents.
When selling snack in China, follow your intuition and trust yourself
The case of a crisp packet transformed into a jewelry box can make you smile. Maybe it sounds not realistic?
Well, we’ll notice here that all good preparation leads to good results.
When a golf player is ready to hit the ball, the difference between winning and losing is a matter of millimeters. Touching the ball 2mm at the wrong place can lead to terrible repercussions a hundred meters away. Training, preparation, repetition, and control are as many keys as you’ll need to make the difference between an All-In or putting the ball in the nearby lac.
Lyfen trusted us and still thanks us today.
China’s Snack Leader Lyfen 2019 Mid-Autumn festival Campaign was a success
Let’s talk about the campaign’s result now.
- Mastering branding and digital marketing in China, it’s 10 million RMB turnover in 1 week after launching the product.
- Mastering cultural codes and the Chinese environment, it’s 20 million RMB turnover in 1 month.
- We attracted over 200,000 new clients.
- Over 3000 limited edition products sold out in a day.
- Sales increase close to +1000%.
- Close to 4 million views on Weibo.
- Over 4 million views for our video campaign.
- An ROI (return on investment) of +500%…
And even more than a successful mediatic campaign, we got a satisfied client. Your success matters, don’t neglect it.
Selling Snack in China: Go further
After the 2019 Autumn Festival’s success, Lyfen and GMA decided to keep working together. We are still working on Lyfen gift box packaging but we also developed a more complete & Omni-Chanel marketing strategy.
Here is some of our 2020 work for Lyfen:
Sell Snack in China with Kols and Short Videos (Douyin)
Use Video Format to direct traffic to your Snack Online Store
Our Agency can help you sell snacks in China too
Would you like to have the same success as Lyfen? Discuss with us your project!
WHO’S GMA?
- GMA is the most visible marketing agency in China.
- Successful projects: we are professionals in promoting your company in China while using the last digital tools.
- Chinese are always connected, we know all the tools and platforms used by Chinese people. To reach your consumers, adapt your strategy.
1 comment
Anan
Interested ….I wanted seller chips in Malaysia