ToSummer: Counter-Cyclical Expansion in the Oriental Fragrance Track

The Growth Strategy and Future Challenges of Scent Brand ToSummer Amid the New Consumer Downturn

Most new consumer brands have hit growth bottlenecks in recent years, rooted in a fundamental lack of underlying value construction and the failure to build cycle-defying core competitive moats. As a representative player in the oriental fragrance track, ToSummer’s differentiated layout amid industry contraction offers high research value.

This article deconstructs ToSummer’s core strategic moves from 2023 to 2024 from an industrial logic perspective, analyzing the rationality and potential risks of its growth trajectory.

Underlying Track Logic and Differentiated Positioning

Founded in 2019, ToSummer focuses on home fragrance and personal scent care. China’s domestic fragrance industry is in a rapid penetration stage, with a market size of approximately RMB 18–22 billion in 2023 and a steady annual compound growth rate of 25%–30%.

The track features a distinct dual-threshold structure. On the production side, technical barriers are extremely low; fragrance formulation and mass production can be rapidly outsourced. On the consumer side, however, brand barriers are remarkably high. The core value of fragrance products lies in emotional satisfaction and aesthetic recognition rather than functional utility. Consumer purchasing decisions are driven by cultural symbolism, emotional resonance and identity labeling embedded in products. Accordingly, competition in this sector does not center on cost performance, but on aesthetic systems, brand narratives, and consumer mindshare occupation.

China’s high-end fragrance market is currently dominated by international brands such as Diptyque and Jo Malone, while most domestic brands compete in the mid-tier price segment. ToSummer’s positioning as an oriental fragrance brand creates a core differentiation from international players and precisely aligns with the ongoing revival of cultural consumption. Its iconic product names — Summer Osmanthus of the Imperial Garden, Snow Over Kunlun, Bamboo Shadow in Floating Light — draw on traditional Chinese landscape imagery and solar-term culture. This builds culturally driven competitive moats that overseas brands cannot replicate, enabling the brand to achieve initial cognitive differentiation in consumers’ minds.

Early Cold-Start Strategy

In its early stage, ToSummer launched three core product lines: crystal diffusers, scented candles, and perfumes. Priced over 100% higher than peer domestic brands, it targeted mid-to-high-end consumer groups. It adopted a WeChat mini-program limited-release model with fixed weekly new launches every Thursday. By leveraging scarcity operation to screen initial users and establish premium brand tonality, the brand combined small-scale product testing with hunger marketing, rapidly accumulating seed users and breaking through mainstream brand awareness.

Deconstruction of Core Strategic Moves (2023–2024)

ToSummer’s recent strategies fall into three dimensions: offline self-operated store expansion, product line extension, and rigid price system maintenance.

Offline Self-operated Touchpoint Construction

From 2023 to 2024, ToSummer opened more than ten self-operated experiential stores in core cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Nanjing. All stores feature exclusive customized design and independent operation, refusing traditional channel formats such as mall kiosks and beauty collection stores.

This strategy fits the experiential nature of fragrance products. Olfactory perception cannot be fully conveyed through online content, making offline scenarios the core touchpoint for consumer cognition. ToSummer’s stores adopt highly culture-oriented design languages. For example, its Beijing Guozijian store is renovated from a traditional ancient building, evolving into a cultural check-in landmark. The layout delivers tangible brand experience and strengthens premium brand credibility.

As official operational data remains undisclosed, the profitability of offline stores is yet to be verified. Rapid store expansion imposes stringent requirements on service standardization and consistent customer experience. If operational capabilities fail to match expansion speed, brand equity may be diluted instead.

Product Line Extension Strategy

Initially limited to crystal diffusers and scented candles, ToSummer’s product portfolio has expanded to perfumes, body wash, shampoo and personal care products. Its price range now covers low-priced fragrance soap (dozens of RMB) to high-capacity premium perfumes (over one thousand RMB), forming a complete gradient product matrix.

From a commercial perspective, a single product category cannot support the floor efficiency of offline stores. A diversified product portfolio meets the multi-dimensional consumption demands of in-store visitors. Meanwhile, personal cleansing and care products are high-frequency consumer goods with significantly higher repurchase rates than low-frequency home fragrances, effectively optimizing the brand’s revenue structure.

Nevertheless, ToSummer’s core competencies remain concentrated in aesthetic expression and cultural brand narration, with no inherent advantages in formula R&D and functional verification. Personal care products compete heavily on functional performance. Without meeting consumer expectations for grooming efficacy, ToSummer will face direct competition with established personal care brands such as L’Occitane, which boast decades of R&D accumulation. Category expansion must be accompanied by the development of irreplicable core value support.

Rigid Maintenance of the Price System

Since its founding, ToSummer has adhered strictly to full-price sales. It refuses to participate in major e-commerce shopping festivals such as 618 and Double 11, and avoids live-stream sales channels, sustaining long-term price stability.

This strategy is rare among new consumer brands. Most peers fall into the path dependency of “trading discounts for sales volume”, with broken price systems causing irreversible damage to brand tonality. ToSummer’s strict price discipline reflects long-term adherence to high-end positioning and solid strategic composure.

Conclusion and Future Challenges

Against the industry downturn, ToSummer chose counter-cyclical expansion, standing in sharp contrast with most new consumer brands that scale back operations and cut prices to survive. Its proactive layout is underpinned by initially established brand mindshare moats. Nevertheless, the sustainability of its expansion relies on further consolidation of underlying capabilities. Key unresolved challenges include building product irreplaceability, strengthening supply chain barriers, expanding brand influence boundaries, and concretizing brand value propositions.

In the long run, ToSummer needs to build capabilities in three directions. Vertically upstream, it must consolidate supply chain barriers through exclusive raw material reserves and proprietary formula R&D. Vertically downstream, it needs to strengthen the functional performance of personal care products to solidify product hard power. Horizontally, it must build a complete cultural value system, upgrading consumer perception from “osmanthus-scented candles” to full recognition of its unique cultural symbols and lifestyle propositions.