Write literature review and methodology for it

Project Structure

1.0 Project title

The study on online marketing strategies used by local new brands in Chinese underwear market： Use Neiwai and Ubras as examples.

2.0 Introduction

The development of women's underwear has a long and rich history. As early as the Minoan civilization in the 14th century B.C.，brassiere-like or bikini-like clothing was used by women to cover and lift their breasts. Beginning in the 16th century, upper-class women in the Western world wore corsets to lift their breasts. The garments that emerged in the early 20th century came close to modern bras, but large-scale commercial production did not materialize until the 1930s. The production and sale of bras has become a multi-billion-dollar industrial chain. Over time, the emphasis on bras has shifted from function to fashion. (M, Roy, 2009)

China's modern lingerie market started late. After the reform and opening up in the 1980s, foreign lingerie brands ，such as Triumph and Ordifen，entered the Chinese market and domestic lingerie industry really began to develop. In the early 1990s, a number of local brands， such as Cosmo Lady and Embryform developed rapidly. According to a report by the China General Chamber of Commerce and the China Business Intelligence Center, there are at least 3,000 domestic lingerie brands in the Chinese market.

However, two main features emerged. Firstly, the market share was still dominated by foreign brands and the concentration rate was low. The concentration of the top five brands in China's lingerie market was only 6.6% in 2018, while the market concentration of the top five markets in Japan, the US and the UK was 56%, 47% and 22% respectively. In contrast, the market concentration of the top five brands in China's lingerie market is much lower than that of Japan, the U.S., and the U.K.（Euromonitor，2018）As a result, China's lingerie market share still has the potential to be concentrated in top-tier brands, with more intense competition.

Secondly, With the development of digital marketing and the awakening awareness of women's equality, the traditional lingerie “giant groups“ face a huge challenge. According to the 2019 annual report, Cosmo Lady's full-year revenue declined by 19.9% ； operating profit loss reached $1.389 billion, the number of stores decreased to 5,970 from 7,305 in 2018, and gross profit fell from 41.7% to 22.6%. Similarly, as previously reported by NetNews， Embryform Group's consolidated gross profit margin declined year-on-year from 2017 to 2019, to 73.82%, 72.26% and 70.73%, respectively. More and more women are moving away from dazzling bras and underwear and opting for more unisex and comfortable styles and non-linear and sporty lingerie is more popular. The competition brings new opportunities and challenges.

At the same time, a number of Internet lingerie local brands have also entered into this game and earned profit and popularity and won brand image and loyal customers.

Neiwai is an Internet-born brand which was founded in 2012, and currently has 1 million female users, 2 million social followers, and 40 stores in mainland China. It focuses on comfort and freedom in lingerie, home wear and sportswear. Ubras is a women's lingerie brand founded in 2016, entering the lingerie market with comfort and innovating the 'no size' lingerie category. In the "Tmall 618 Carnival" in 2020, Ubras hot-selling lingerie item sales exceeded 100 million yuan, ranking first in the no-code lingerie category, and recently completed hundreds of millions of yuan B+ round of financing. Over the past three years, the online lingerie market has been steadily developing at an outstanding growth rate, and its market share is still expanding. This is inseparable from its Internet marketing.

China's marketing communications market undergoing a huge change. The rise of the Internet, social media and information technology has had a disruptive impact on the marketing communications market. The reshaping of the traditional industrial chain, the weakening of the transactional agency channel, and the increasing direct communication between advertisers and consumers have made the traditional media no longer dominant. The explosive growth in the number of media touchpoints and the flattening and transparency of information dissemination have driven changes in the marketing needs of enterprises. As a result, China's emerging lingerie brands are choosing new Internet marketing methods to quickly help build brand awareness, open markets and expand sales.

This report will provide a full understanding of Neiwai and Ubras’s marketing strategies with a focus on the online marketing approach implemented in the local market; and a few conclusions and forecasting concerning the Chinese underwear market will be proposed in the end.

3.0The Research Questions

Main research questions：

what online marketing strategies do Neiwai and Ubras used in Chinese underwear market？

Sub research questions：

What market environment do they face？

What media do they mainly use？

What marketing communication do they convey？

What is the future prospect for them？

What experience can they provide for other brands？

4.0 Project Aims

The report aims to understand deeply in Neiwai and Ubras’s

online marketing strategies implemented in local market. The study

will identify sales, market share, customer acceptance, and brand

values perceived by the Chinese consumers. It is essential for two reasons.

Firstly, China's women's underwear industry development space is huge, but the market concentration is low and waiting to be fulfilled. China's women's lingerie industry growth is approximately 40 years, which means growth potential is huge. According to the statistics released by the Prospective Industry Research Institute of China's lingerie market prospect and investment planning analysis report, the market size of China's lingerie reached 72 billion yuan and exceeded 100 billion yuan in 2009 and 2013，respectively. In 2018, China's lingerie market retail value is about 161.3 billion yuan, an increase of 7.2% year-on-year. Besides， from 2012-2018 this 6-year compound growth rate of 8.1%, it is predicted that by 2022 China's women's lingerie market capacity will reach 197.3 billion yuan.In addition, in recent years, the per capita purchase of new lingerie by women in China is more than 7 sets per year, and there is a trend of year-on-year growth, it is expected that in the future, with the improvement of the level of female consumption capacity, as well as the demand for aesthetics, comfort and functionality of lingerie, the scale of the industry will also grow. However， China's lingerie industry is very loose and the market concentration is low, so a large number of new lingerie brands will seize the opportunity and enter the market in the future. This report will provide examples and reference for the development of new brands.

Secondly， the widespread use of the Internet has contributed to the development of e-commerce. At the same time, online marketing has grown rapidly. It involves not only traditional companies, but also new cutting-edge companies. (CNN Network 2017)

China's lingerie industry market concentration is gradually increasing, traditional head lingerie companies prefer multi-brand, multi-category development, and is accelerating online marketing transformation. In 2018, China's lingerie industry leader Huijie Group and Aliyun entered into a partnership to start a deep digital transformation, including retail cloud, artificial intelligence, e-commerce and many other fields. What is more，the rapid emergence of online born brands focused on different women's lingerie segments has continued to attract capital investment.

With the demographic dividend from smartphones, online shopping is gradually transforming into competition in the stock market, with traffic acquisition costs becoming increasingly high, even exceeding offline. The lingerie industry has a high brand loyalty, with women searching directly for familiar lingerie brands when selecting lingerie online, as well as making purchases online through offline fittings and experiences. Therefore, online marketing is an inevitable strategic choice for businesses in the digital economy. This report concentrates on marketing strategies for online marketing that will be used as a reference for other brands.

Therefore， this report will not only contributes new cases study to the theory of Online marketing, but also provide references for other new Internet brands that expecting or struggling enter the lingerie industry, or even contribute experience to other promising blue ocean markets.

5.0The Literature Review

The literature Review at the proposal stage is the following:

· A clear strategy for the literature review within the full project.

· Clear descriptions of the types of literature that would be used and researched

· Clear topic areas of research, best practice and expert opinion that would be adressed.

· Exemples of all of the above to provide a validation that this literature and secondary data contributes value to the body of knowledge surrounding the topic.

6.0Methodology – How will you answer the Question?

This section needs to be precise, clinical and VERY specific and includes:

· Overall approach and chosen methodology: Deductive Qualitative WHY!

· Population and Sampling: Who and WHY?

· Details on Place and Setting: Where will the research take place WHY?

· The Instrument: Survey? Questionnaire? Interviews? Observation? WHY?

· Operationalisation: How will the instrument be utilized/delivered? WHY?

· Raw data format: Transcripts, survey statistics, fieldnotes etc

· Analysis: Qualitative – Thematic Content Analysis/Grounded Theory

· Quantitative – Correlations, Distributions, Descriptive statistics

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References

Mankovitz, Roy. Nature's Detox Plan: A Program For Physical And Emotional Detoxification. Montecito Wellness LLC. 2009-01-08: 196. ISBN 978-0-9801584-8-9

https://www.qianzhan.com/analyst/detail/220/200707-36be6c90.html