Since its birth, hims has received US $ 197 million in financing.

Editor’s note: This article href=”https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/xaPkhLNN1H4IBmZrfKj0Gw”> “new consumer internal reference” from the micro-channel public number , Author: Alas.

Putian-based hims in the United States, why is it worth 1 billion US dollars in just 2 years?

Before reading this article, may I ask the male friends around you the following questions:

1. Do you have hair loss?

2. Are you anxious?

3. Is your skin okay?

They may smile awkwardly at you, and then quickly shift the subject.

Yes, they have the answer, they just don’t know how to speak.

Maybe they are always looking for a solution, but they can’t find the right product.

You can push www. forhims.com to them and tell them that you have the solution you want for him.

With the development of society and economy, men’s self-awareness is gradually awakening. While redefining their values, they realize that in order to gain a foothold in society, in addition to their own hard power, they also need to have good social skills and be more people. Accepted expressiveness and excellent cooperation spirit, these changes not only change the male consumer psychology, but also promote the prosperity of the male consumer market.

Putian hims in the United States, why is it worth 1 billion US dollars in just 2 years?

According to data from the Institute of Global Health, the global health industry is currently worth 4.2 trillion U.S. dollars, growing at twice the rate of global economic growth.

In the field of beauty, according to Euromonitor International, the global male beauty market may reach US $ 51.1 billion by 2020.

Putian-based hims in the United States, why is it worth 1 billion US dollars in just 2 years?

Image source: Euromonitor

Under such a background, the DTC (direct to customer) brand hims, which focuses on men’s health, was born.

Since its birth, hims has received front-line VC investments such as Forerunner Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Iinstitutional Venture Partners, Thrive Capital, etc., and has received a total of US $ 197 million in financing. The market valuation has reached US $ 1 billion and has successfully ranked among the “independent” The Unicorn Club. ”

1, Unicorn’s promotion path

“The key to taking the first step towards personal care is that you have to realize that it is not strange to have problems, it is strange not to deal with them.”

Putian-based hims in the United States, why is it worth 1 billion US dollars in just 2 years?

hims official homepage (source: hims official website)

In 2017, Andrew Dudum founded hims, a men’s health personal care brand, because he noticed the plight of the male care industry.

He found that when men face common problems such as hair loss, skin care, and sexual health (ED), it is often difficult for them to open their teeth. They are not willing to meet with a doctor and cannot afford expensive products.

So he decided to create him, a platform for men to provide preventive health advice and personal care solutions to help men solve this embarrassment.

His was originally known for selling men’s anti-off products and ED medicines. Later, it expanded its business to men’s skin care, providing men with targeted products such as moisturizing, anti-wrinkle, and acne treatment.

After his success in the men’s health market, Dudum decided to enter the women’s health market.

November 2018, specialHers, a health personal care brand for women’s health needs, is officially launched.

Putian-based hims in the United States, why is it worth 1 billion US dollars in just 2 years?

Image source: hers official website

Unlike simply selling beauty products, hers aims to help women make smart and healthy choices at all stages of healthcare, providing them with skin care, anti-shedding, and sexual health services.

Sexual health products include prescription contraceptives and Addyi (the only drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for patients with hyposexuality).

In addition to hair loss prevention, sexual health and skin care, in early 2019, hims and hers also launched a new health category: Performance Anxiety. The first product in the new field is the prescription drug propranolol ( Propranolol), a beta-blocker that helps users ease the symptoms of physical anxiety.

Putian-based hims in the United States, why is it worth 1 billion US dollars in just 2 years?

hims drugs for anxiety (source: hims official website)

2, The reason why a unicorn is a unicorn

1. His needs are important

“Only 1 in 10 people are willing to talk to their doctor about their looks and health.”

Needs refers to the psychological tendency of an organism to feel a certain lack and strive to be satisfied, emphasizing desires, such as the desire for beauty, the desire for knowledge.

Demands are based on the needs, produce specific targets, and feel that they have the ability to obtain, not only emphasizing desire and purchasing power, such as the demand for bread due to hunger.

hims is such a brand founded on the needs of men.

Dudum conducted a detailed survey of consumers before positioning brands, and he found thatHair, ED, skin care and other sensitive issues, often feel uncomfortable and awkward. So he focused his attention on solving the difficult health problems for men.

After finding the pain points of men, through further investigation, he found that men have a great demand for health drugs and professional consultations, so he decided to build him into a preventive health consultation platform to provide professional consultations and drugs for men. Services to meet their needs.

Dudum said, “I want to direct the product to younger and more diverse groups. At the same time, I also hope to eliminate the stigma caused by hair loss among some men. Let people know that hair loss is normal. I care too much. “

2. It is important to make him affordable

“You should always be at your best, and our job is to make this easy and affordable.”

In addition to precise product positioning, reasonable prices are also an advantage of hims.

Dudum mentioned in an interview that a few years ago, when he first entered the society, at a family party, his sister told him that you should take care of your skin and pick up his credit card. , Ordered a set of $ 200 men’s skin care products, he said at the time he was shocked by the price of this expensive skin care products.

Therefore, he feels that there must be a market for products that are priced to match the economic strength of young people.

After investigation, he found that the prices of existing men’s products on the market mostly hovered between 80 and 200 US dollars, far exceeding the consumption level of young people. Taking men’s anti-fall products as an example, the traditional brand Propecia sells for as much as $ 70-75 / month.

Dudum understands that, as a young person who has just entered the society, the fierce competition in the job market and the debts they bear, they don’t spend much on personal health care.

In order to be a brand of care that young people can afford, the price of his anti-offset kit is only $ 30 / month (over-the-counter drug set) and $ 44 / month (prescription drug set).

Putian-based hims in the United States, why is it worth 1 billion US dollars in just 2 years?

On the left is a fall-off prevention kit with prescription drugs, on the right is a fall-off prevention kit without prescription drugs (source: hims official website)

In addition, Dudum also stated that the prescription drugs for hims are included in medical insurance, and users only need to pay a part of the cost.

3. Make him feel that caring is important

“Emotional DesignIs a more subtle way of expression. “

The English expression of perceptual engineering is Kansei Engineering, Kansei is a transliteration of the Japanese word “perceptual” or “kan”.

Perceptual engineering is to translate the results of human perceptual analysis into the physical design elements of products, and to manufacture products according to human preferences. He considers the psychological needs and feelings of consumers more to ensure that product use can bring Positive pleasure.

hims is such a brand that takes “emotional design” to the extreme.

Open the official website of hims. You will find that unlike the dark color scheme of traditional men ’s brands pursuing “gentrification” or emphasizing “hormones”, the website of hims is based on soft nude pink, which is brighter and lighter. .

This has a certain hinting effect on the psychology. For contemporary young people who are stressed out, choosing products in this environment can alleviate negative emotions to a certain extent.

In addition, hims also uses a lot of emoji on the webpage. This visual expression that likes to use emoji also visually brings users an interesting shopping experience.

Putian hims in the United States, why is it worth 1 billion US dollars in just 2 years?

hims page with emoji, very playful (Source: hims official website)

In the design of the interface, the hims are also very concise. There are only four parts in the navigation bar. From left to right, they are shopping, learn, cart, and login. Users only use Click on the picture to enter the purchase entrance.

Putian-based hims in the United States, why is it worth 1 billion US dollars in just 2 years?

The purchase portal for hims products is very simple (source: hims official website)

In the design of products, hims adhere to the design philosophy of “less is more”.

The label of the product adopts simple linear font, which is fresh and natural, simple and generous. The outer packaging is a brown carton made of cardboard, which is both economical and environmentally friendly.

This simple and elegant, attention to detail design allows users to fully feel the care from the brand, so that they do not want to hide the product in the deepest corner of the medicine cabinet.

Putian-based hims in the United States, why is it worth 1 billion US dollars in only 2 years?

hims simple and practical packaging design (source: hims official website)

4. It is important to help him reduce his troubles

Dudum said, “We communicate with consumers in the way they want. It’s simple, straightforward, and nonsense.”

Hims’ one-stop shopping experience successfully hit the pain points of male consumers who are afraid of embarrassment and trouble.

Due to the DTC subscription e-commerce sales model, users only need to fill out a questionnaire on the official website. After that, hims will contact the doctor to conduct a one-to-one consultation with them to choose the most suitable product for them. Then mail the product to them.

This one-stop service not only provides users with scientific advice, but also proposes a set of professional solutions. When they have physical problems, they do not need to blindly collect information online, nor do they need to find a doctor’s embarrassing face consultation.

Of course, the reason why hems can adopt one-stop services is to take advantage of two new trends: First, the amendment of the US State Telemedicine Act allows users everywhere to obtain prescription drugs without visiting the doctor in person; Widening, online drug purchase channels were opened.

5. It is important for him to remember and interact with him

After the upper layer is designed, his next consideration is digital marketing and brand communication of the product.

In terms of marketing platforms, like other DTC brands, hims uses social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and the official website as the most important medium to interact with consumers.

This is also one of the most significant advantages of the DTC brand. Through channels such as social media and the official website, the brand can not only communicate directly with consumers and understand their preferences.

You can also use tools to track consumer portraits, collect user data, see if they buy, at which step to give up, and then launch products that better meet market needs.

In CantonIn terms of creativity, hims has been conveying the attitude of “I am effective and fun, do you want to try?”

If you watch the ads for hims, you will find that hims never use big-name stars in product display, but chooses amateurs with different skin colors as models.

Putian-based hims in the US, why is it worth 1 billion US dollars in just 2 years?

Amateur model on hims official website (source: hims official website)

hims hopes to attract “diverse” groups, build “most people” brands, listen to consumers from different regions and at different ages who have genuine demands for health, and eventually become a male brand for all ages.

Dudum hopes that his shampoo users in their 20s will still use him in their 60s.

In terms of advertising content, hims uses contextual metaphors to implicitly refer to male health issues with different forms of plants.

This not only increases the interest of the advertisement, eases the embarrassment, but also enhances consumers’ memory of the brand.

Putian-based hims in the United States, why is it worth 1 billion US dollars in only 2 years?

Scenario metaphor for hims, using cacti to refer to men’s health issues (Source: hims official website)

In terms of advertising, from stadiums, gyms, to subways and open air plazas, hims have integrated advertisements into different living scenes, so that consumers can feel the existence of hims in daily life.

Putian-based hims in the United States, why is it worth 1 billion US dollars in just 2 years?