Zhiben Channel Strategy: Flagship Store and Content Commerce

Executive Summary#

Zhiben's (至本) online channel strategy is a useful case study in building a skincare brand around one owned storefront. The brand runs its online business mainly through its official flagship store on a leading Chinese marketplace and uses content-led commerce to reach new customers. Its range is built on mass-market cleansers and makeup removers, and the brand is extending it into newer categories such as skincare sets and eye care. This analysis examines the strategic trade-offs of Zhiben's flagship-first distribution model and the category choices that are shaping the brand's next phase.

The Flagship-First Model and Its Trade-Offs#

Zhiben's channel structure is unusual for a domestic skincare brand, because the official flagship store sits at the centre of its online business and the brand's other storefronts play a supporting role.

We believe this is a deliberate choice. By selling mainly through a single owned storefront, Zhiben keeps a direct relationship with its customers, controls the timing of its promotions and its pricing, and avoids the pressure on margins that comes with distribution through many third-party sellers. The flagship format also gives the brand ownership of its customer data, its review management and the post-purchase contact on which Zhiben's distinctive customer service model depends.

Content-Led Commerce: Customer Acquisition Channel or Future Pillar?#

Content-led commerce is the part of Zhiben's distribution that we believe deserves most attention, since in the year to April 2024 the brand appeared to use it mainly to acquire new customers, and less as a mature profit centre.

The content-driven discovery model of these marketplaces suits skincare product seeding, because it rewards authentic and visually engaging product demonstrations, and these fit Zhiben's gentle-for-sensitive-skin messaging. Short videos that show Zhiben's refillable vacuum packaging, its soy-ink printing and close-ups of product textures create the kind of organic consumer interest that leads to trial purchases.

The strategic question for Zhiben is whether content-led commerce should remain a controlled acquisition channel or be developed into a larger part of the business. Investing faster in it carries two risks. It could make it harder for the brand to keep its pricing consistent across channels, and visibility that depends on recommendation algorithms makes organic reach less predictable than the search-based shopping journey of a conventional marketplace.

Zhiben has also consolidated its storefronts on the marketplace group that hosts its flagship store onto the flagship format. We believe this reflects a decision to put brand control and consistent pricing ahead of the additional reach that smaller storefronts can bring.

Category Strategy: A Mass-Market Core With New Categories#

Zhiben's range is anchored in cleansers and makeup removers, which form the core of the brand's business, while newer categories such as skincare sets and eye care show the brand extending its portfolio beyond its cleansing products.

Product Positioning: Mass-Market Prices and a Sensitive-Skin Focus#

Zhiben's product strategy rests on proprietary ingredients backed by published scientific research, on gentle formulations for sensitive skin, and on eco-friendly packaging that also works as social media content. The brand's hero products, concentrated in cleansers and makeup removers at accessible mass-market prices, target the segment where scale and repeat purchases drive profitability.

The eco-packaging programme, with its bottle recycling and refillable packs, gives consumers a concrete reason to recommend the brand. We believe this makes Zhiben's sustainability commitment a commercial asset as well as a cost, which matters increasingly as Chinese consumers, particularly on Xiaohongshu (小红书), pay closer attention to brands' environmental claims.

Key Takeaways#

• Zhiben's official flagship store is the centre of its online business, a concentration that we believe the brand has chosen deliberately to keep control of pricing and customer relationships
• Content-led commerce serves mainly as a customer acquisition channel, and the brand's strategic question is whether to develop it into a larger part of the business
• Consolidating storefronts onto the flagship format supports brand control and consistent pricing
• Cleansers and makeup removers form the core of the range, while skincare sets and eye care extend the portfolio beyond cleansing

About the Data#

Sales and channel data sourced from Moojing Market Intelligence, covering leading Chinese e-commerce marketplaces. Data period: May 2023 to April 2024 (rolling annual).