Retail marketing of "surviving the times"

Gordon Dumoulin
Dec 15, 2021
2 min read

𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴,

𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺.... 😊

As a child visiting Asia stores in the Netherlands, I was always impressed and amazed by the exotic convenience products, vegetables and fruits. The 𝗕𝗲𝗲 & 𝗙𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗮𝗽 was definitely one of those. Since then I have been using this soap off and on and it has just been the same package, familiarity and sensation as it did decades ago. Probably some nostalgia added to the emotion these days 😉

While old traditional brands have revivals or makeovers in China as in all over the world, this soap available as sandalwood, jasmine, ginseng and rose seems just to have been there all along, usually at a lower shelf in supermarkets or corner stores.

𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘨𝘰 𝘣𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘢𝘱 𝘯𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴...

Bee & Flower brand is manufactured by the almost 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝘆-𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗵𝗮𝗶 𝗦𝗼𝗮𝗽 𝗖𝗼.. Founded in 1923 by the Lever Brothers (merged in 1929 with Dutch Margarine Unie to Unilever), the factory was nationalized in 1949 at the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Today the company manufactures 25 products, with an annual capacity of 80,000 tons and 1,300 employees. The company 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗵𝘂𝗮 𝗕𝗲𝗲 & 𝗙𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗮𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝟭𝟵𝟮𝟴 and has been a flagship since with basically the same package design and formulation.

Shanghai Soap Co. factory in the 1990's

Shanghai Soap Co. factory (year unknown)

The company also makes Traditional Chinese Medicine soaps since 60 years. Today, customers can still buy liquid sandalwood soap (or others) by the kilogram if they bring their own containers. A traditional service mode still in practice and alive.