A case of Roseonly for brands

Roseonly, an ecommerce company founded in 2013 has become a buzz word with more than 1,000,000 followers on Weibo. According to its practice, when a man orders roses from roseonly, he is required to offer the girl’s name to make a personalized record, and it can’t be changed to another one in the future. In another word, roseonly do not sell roses, but the brand image perceived that it is a privilege or commitment to send someone its roses.

“I hope everyday can be Valentine’s Day,” a young girl posted her roseonly with nine pictures from different angles on Weibo and it was liked by roseonly official account. In the middle of the pictures, One bouquet, in One lifetime, for One person only — roseonly’s tagline and the theme of all its campaigns — was highlighted. More girls expressed their admiration in the comments.

Although the minimum selling price for one batch is 799 yuan and lager arrangements cost twice as much, Roseonly has become the biggest flower vendor on Tmall for 2 consecutive years. Like other online merchants, people can buy it in offline retail outlets or on its official websites, Tmall and Jingdong, after which they will be delivered to over 300 Chinese cities within 2 days. Just in last year, it raised 1.9 million series C financing and its founder told the media that roseonly would focus more on the layout of luxury vendors.

The secret of its success comes from roseonly’s target audience — girls in 20s to 30s who are fighting for an upper-middle class lifestyle. They have not bad salaries, embrace consumer culture and long for love. The past few years have seen  a surge in the growth of ecommerce business due to the rise of the nation's middle class, like Xiaomi. Unlike their parents in consumption ideas,they are willing to pay a high price for what they agree with or things make them feel special. 

Roseonly successfully uses the “once in a lifetime”policy, which of course is a gimmick, to create the brand’s allure by emotional appeals. It discards the traditional way which focuses on product introduction or price but sets a new definition of receiving roses to satisfy people’s need to be the only one.In consumer perception, Roseonly is not just a bunch of flowers but a lifelong commitment from lovers.

The company keeps exploring the consumer needs related to the “once in a lifetime”concept and meet them with product innovations. On the one hand, Roseonly expands its brand relevance in daily special occasions ranging from Mother’s Day, Christmas to birthday — not just Valentine’s Day.By all ways, Roseonly keeps telling people to express their love by sending the only one gift on any special occasion. On the other hand, it keeps developing new products and service such as necklace and floral wedding decoration to build a larger business landscape.

As for showing its difference and superiority, emphasis on its premium roses sent by air mail from Ecuador and elaborate design in advertisements have successfully differentiated itself from competitors like The Beast which focuses on customized and artistic flowers with stories.  

When it comes to media tactics, the company has carved out its image through social media and celebrity tie-ins. Yangyang, the most popular star in China, has signed on as Roseonly’s brand spokesman. He has been arranged to attend many roseonly-related special events ranging from live webcast, interviews to dates with customers. With his huge fans and media attention, roseonly could reach large audiences and turn them into active publics. Besides, in the environment of advertising overflow, the good image of Yangyang can add more humanization and personalization to roseonly’s brand image.

 Besides, the cooperation with celebrity endorsers like Liu Shishi, Li Xiaolu and Quinlivan makes it more credible that they can have the same romantic stories as long as they have rose only. The brand image of roseonly is improved to an upper class in the process of cooperating with brands like Lavin, Dolce&Gabbana. In 2015 and 2016, roseonly worked with Bazaar to hold the star charity night event, which benefited the reputation. By designing all kinds of events and campaigns, roseonly keeps a close connection and a positive image among its audience.

Roseonly is also good at starting interpersonal communication via social media. It responds directly to followers in the comment area to make them engaged in a two-way communication, which would encourage more fans to interact with it. There are also girls starting to follow the social media of roseonly just because they are influenced by KOLs who show a fancy life with Rainbow bouquets of roseonly. In the same time,open discussions and UGC love stories make its followers have a sense of participation and belonging, and that benefit a lot to cultivate customer loyalty.

References

1. Roseonly蒲易：我是如何一步步把玫瑰花打造成奢侈品

http://renwu.people.com.cn/n/2014/0804/c357679-25397323.html

2.Roseonly 再融资，一年半融资四轮，估值过亿美金

http://www.tmtpost.com/109300.html

3. Roseonly引爆流行的三条粉丝营销法则

http://www.tmtpost.com/84587.html