From Lifestyle Beauty to an Integrated Online-Offline Skin Community: Shuixian Zhi Mei's Business Closure Strategy

In recent years, with the continuous development of the medical aesthetics industry, public acceptance of non-surgical aesthetic treatments and minimally invasive procedures has deepened. The widespread demand for enhanced physical appearance has driven higher penetration rates in the medical aesthetics sector. However, beneath the industry’s prosperous growth, challenges persist, including low customer retention rates and fragmented development across various sub-sectors of medical aesthetics.

For institutions, customer referral between traditional beauty and medical aesthetics is challenging. For consumers, the time cost of screening brands and the risks associated with trying new products persist. Furthermore, due to inconsistent service systems across brands, customers cannot accurately access their personal skin data, making it difficult to select products suited to their individual needs.

Founded in 2015, Narcissus Beauty entered the medical aesthetics industry by leveraging life beauty services as its entry point. During its development, it gradually integrated three core business segments—life beauty, medical aesthetics, and home skincare products—establishing a “Three Beauties” service model to meet consumers’ diverse needs. And now,Narcissus Beauty is undergoing a new round of brand upgrading, integrating online digital platforms with offline service institutions to build a digital skin care community.。

Initially, Li Xinyi simply aimed to establish a beauty and lifestyle concept store, creating a “third space” for women outside of home and work that would offer services such as skincare, leisure spa treatments, and lifestyle aesthetics salons. In July 2016, leveraging her expertise, Li Xinyi founded Shuixian’s first lifestyle aesthetics studio, focusing on the integration of lifestyle aesthetics and semi-permanent makeup.

In 2017, the establishment of three branches of Narcissus Beauty (Wangfujing, The Place, and Solana) initially formed the prototype of a brand chain, while also building industry and consumer recognition of the Narcissus Beauty brand. At this stage, Narcissus Beauty’s primary focus remained on beauty and leisure services.

The beauty of Narcissus is reflected not only in consumers’ pursuit of physical appearance but also in the spatial design and value-added services offered at its stores. From the outside, Narcissus Life Beauty Salon resembles a café, featuring bright spaces, soft color palettes, and lush greenery throughout.

According to Li Xinyi, each Shuixian Zhimei store has collaborated with different architects, including renowned designers such as Zhou Ping Qingshan and Dayong Sun, resulting in distinct functional layouts and interior styles for every location. Overall, however, the ambiance conveys a sense of warmth and professionalism. Furthermore, the soft furnishings and decorative accessories across the stores reflect meticulous craftsmanship and aesthetic appeal.

 Interior spaces predominantly feature light-colored decor, with small decorative items such as vases often crafted from glass and designed with curved structures to create a sense of brightness and transparency.

Furthermore, within this warm and relaxing space, activities such as beauty salons and lifestyle aesthetics salons are frequently hosted alongside the core beauty services. These initiatives not only convey deeper aesthetic concepts to clients but also foster stronger connections between the brand and its customers, thereby enhancing mutual loyalty.

Currently, the other two partners of Shuixian Zhi Mei were engaged in product R&D and aesthetic design, respectively, before joining the company. Some shareholders are original members from the first store, which to some extent reflects customers’ recognition of the brand and its services.

Consumer needs are never monolithic; this holds true not only for basic necessities like food, clothing, housing, and transportation, but also for beauty and aesthetics. Brands can leverage consumer behavior insights to uncover emerging needs, thereby expanding their service offerings and systems.

In 2019, leveraging the brand’s professional expertise in nursing care and its operational foundation, Shuixian established its first medical aesthetics clinic, successfully building a “dual-beauty” model. Typically, there are development barriers between medical aesthetics and lifestyle beauty; although both belong to the beauty industry, they have remained segmented.

By establishing its own network of lifestyle beauty salons and medical aesthetic clinics, Narcissus can not only integrate user data but also uncover consumer needs. Although the various types of beauty outlets under the Narcissus brand offer slightly different services, customers can access information about and purchase all lifestyle beauty and medical aesthetic services provided by Narcissus through a single store.

Through project integration, Narcissus is better able to facilitate mutual traffic flow between life beauty and medical aesthetics.Satisfies the latent medical aesthetic needs of lifestyle beauty consumers and the long-term care needs of medical aesthetic users., while also improving overall operational efficiency.

The Narcissus Beauty team believes that the skin is a meticulously regulated ecosystem. They advocate for a holistic approach to skincare, addressing various skin concerns by prioritizing health, leveraging multi-dimensional assessments and precise, science-based treatments to deliver personalized solutions.

Typically, visual observation of the skin with the naked eye under daylight can create optical "illusions" because daylight is a mixture of wavelengths. Therefore,Narcissus Beauty leverages multi-dimensional skin imaging analysis and skin omics to collect multi-dimensional data on users, including baseline skin metrics and stratum corneum exfoliation., and provide personalized skincare regimens tailored to individuals’ varying skin conditions and the underlying causes of those conditions.

Through years of brand operation and service, Li Xinyi discovered that the majority of customers suffer from compromised skin barriers. However, most present only with mild allergic symptoms, which do not meet the clinical criteria for pharmacological intervention and can be repaired simply by using appropriate skincare products.

To this end, Shuixian Zhimei has partnered with multiple dermatology experts to establish the Econ Laboratory, andSuccessfully developed the independent skincare brand “HAOHAO,” establishing a closed-loop “Three-Beauty” skincare model encompassing home skincare products, professional beauty maintenance, and medical aesthetic treatments.。

This skincare brand represents a product line developed by the Narcissus Beauty team, focusing on the dynamic management of the skin barrier. The initial series of efficacy-driven products targeting compromised skin barriers has been launched. Clinical applications have been conducted in collaboration with dermatologists, and plans are underway to enter major medical aesthetic institutions. Consumers will subsequently be able to purchase the products freely through the online Narcissus Beauty mini-program and offline retail stores.

Having completed the brand evolution from traditional beauty to integrated medical-aesthetic services, and further to a holistic “tri-beauty” model, Shuixian Zhi Mei is now leveraging digital trends to build a digital skin care community.

Li Xinyi stated that Shuixian Zhimei will leverage its existing offline service centers and integrate them with an online mini-program to build a skin care community based on a “retail–service–community” model.

Online, the "Shuixian Zhi Mei" mini-program can achieveOnline Consultation, Skin Care Education, E-commerce Store, Service Appointment and Triageand other features, creating a skin care community similar to Xiaohongshu.Offline, the new version of Shuixian Zhimei stores will integrate life beauty services, medical aesthetics, and skincare retail into a single space., more directly achieving the integration of three forms of beauty.

 Online Digital Mini Program

It is reported that the online module of Narcissus Beauty is currently in the refinement stage, and the skin detection component will undergo further upgrades. The platform is expected to officially launch in January next year.

From its origins in semi-permanent makeup to its current integration of the “Three Beauties” and the development of a digital skin community, the evolution of Shuixian Zhi Mei has been a continuous journey of renewal and advancement. Its sustained innovation not only demonstrates the brand’s rapid responsiveness to market demands but also reflects the team’s strategic understanding of channel integration.

Currently,Shuixian Meizhi has established four lifestyle beauty centers and one medical aesthetics clinic in the Beijing area, serving over 30,000 clients and boasting more than 2,000 high-value members.。

In terms of membership management, Shuixian Zhi Mei regularly organizes high-quality online and offline activities to enhance members' cohesion with the brand.

In terms of service product development,Narcissus Beauty has a project R&D team composed of dermatologists, cosmetic formulators, clinicians, and clinical aestheticians.This is precisely the advantage of Shuixian Zhi Mei. By leveraging professionals who have direct, first-line contact with customers’ skin, Shuixian Zhi Mei obtains clinical data and user feedback. Based on these insights, the company designs products and solutions, and delivers services to customers through high-quality partner institutions, thereby providing users with an enhanced service experience.

Next, Shuixian Zhi Mei will continue to open branch stores in the Beijing area. After completing its layout in Beijing, the brand will gradually expand nationwide through cities such as Chengdu and Hangzhou.

Regarding the product,Narcissus Beauty will continue to invest in R&D and updates for its subsequent product lines, thus requiring a certain level of financial support.

Furthermore, based on the current stage of digital dermatology community development,Shuixian Beauty needs to build more comprehensive e-commerce operation channels to meet the online mall functions and skincare retail, hoping to attract more outstanding talents in e-commerce operations to join Shuixian Beauty.