Hippocampus Huang Yihan: The topic of efficiency was left behind in the past | An Exclusive Interview by Houxue.

"Although consumer venture capital is currently receding, do we still have a favorable view of the new and emerging consumer brands?

The answer is undoubtedly yes.

Consumption is a long-term and promising track. Brand building is not an overnight task, but once a brand is established, it will not easily perish. We have witnessed that after a round of rapid growth and its accompanying pains, some new brand companies have gained loyal users, thereby achieving considerable scale and even profits, entering a new stage of stable growth. Most of them were born after 2014, riding the investment boom that started in 2019 and emerging victorious in the fierce competition."

"Based on this, 36Kr Future Consumption has decided to select 36 new consumer brand companies and continuously track their development through exclusive interviews, case studies, and other methods, and compile them in the 'Thick Snow Exclusive Interviews 36' column."

Written by Ren Cairu

Interviewed by Ren Cairu, Yang Xuan

Edited by Qiao Qian

After Haimati (a photography brand) founder Huang Yihan made headlines for the "Prohibition of Using Haimati Photos for the Postgraduate Entrance Examination Registration", he has been making frequent appearances recently.

In the past month, apart from solving problems and responding to the media, his main focus has been on "how to make changes". Huang Yihan said that he is not a person who would get stuck in emotions. "Because every important event is actually a signal from the outside world to you." After the turmoil, it prompted the team to see the changes in user needs, and rethink to what extent makeup, photography, and image retouching should be done. The corresponding product line has also entered the adjustment channel.

In the past nearly ten years, Haimati's path has been smooth. Huang Yihan started his business in his junior year. From taking photos for his classmates to opening stores in shopping malls, from 1 store to 40, 100, and 600 stores, his photography hobby has also been perfectly combined with his business dream. This company has not fought too fiercely along the way. Even the only round of financing was completed a few days before the outbreak of the epidemic, which is quite fortunate.

The large-scale development of Haimati has also made this model, which combines both service and experience while being "light, fast, and simple", visible and trusted by industry insiders and investors. During the period when new stores were continuously opening in shopping malls, many friends told Huang Yihan, "Photography can actually be done like this."

However, the consumption environment has suddenly changed, and companies of all sizes that were once running rapidly have begun to face a major test. Haimati is also a typical sample that has experienced the ups and downs of the new consumption trend.

Those "potholes" that were often overlooked in the past have also been stepped on by Haimati. Huang Yihan recalled that in the past few years, under the baton of performance, the main themes of the company were to open more stores, larger stores, and hire more people. It was not until this year when he turned his attention to "profits" that he discovered the astonishing rent and labor costs, and realized that "when the business was good, we did not cherish every penny."

He began to adjust the direction step by step, often meeting with friends from different industries to discuss those "detail" operational issues. Recently, after the monthly business analysis meeting, Haimati will hold a "Store Closure Meeting" to rationally rectify the stores that have been continuously losing money. At the same time, it is also rethinking the issues of price range and value points - products such as cost-effective ID photos, children's photography, and travel photography, which are "essential among non-essential needs", have been given a significant priority boost.

"China's economy is at an intersection of creativity and efficiency in the past two years." This is Huang Yihan's judgment of the current business environment. What surrounds Haimati is precisely a storyline where business and emotion converge, and aesthetics and efficiency intertwine. "In the past, the lesson I learned was creativity, and efficiency is the topic I need to solve now."

Huang Yihan, the founder of Haimati

The following is the conversation between 36Kr and Huang Yihan, the founder of Haimati:

01 A Signal for Change

36Kr: "The use of Haimati photos is prohibited for the Postgraduate Entrance Examination registration. What was your first reaction?"

Huang Yihan: Actually, I didn't think too much about how to respond. Some users took Haimati photos but didn't have time to upload them, so they might suddenly not be able to use them. So we quickly arranged for the stores. If someone needed to take a makeup-free and unretouched supplementary photo, we provided a free supplementary shoot. If there was a failed upload, a refund could also be made. Everyone's trust is more important.

36Kr: Haimati has been used as a synonym to refer to the "excessively refined" style. Why do you think this is the case?

Huang Yihan: Later, we communicated with the official, and they also understood that this is a style, not targeting a specific brand. In fact, we have a postgraduate examination zone. If the user selects this zone, they will receive two versions of the photo. One version is a very simply retouched original version, and the other is a more refined version. The original intention was to hope that everyone can "use one photo for multiple purposes".

36Kr: How much revenue can ID photos bring to Haimati?

Huang Yihan: Including wedding registration photos and image photos, the income from the ID photo sector accounts for about one-third.

36Kr: Has this incident affected the business?

Huang Yihan: There will be a small part. If such situations increase, the impact on the ID photo, the main product, may be significant. But I think every important event is actually a signal from the outside world and also a driving force for you to make changes.

36Kr: What signal does it bring to you?

Huang Yihan: I'm considering making some adjustments to the products. For example, launching ID photo products that do not require retouching or only require slight retouching, with a relatively lower price, which also meets the demands of everyone, and even makeup services can be omitted.

Previously, we maximized the performance of makeup, photography, and retouching, which required a lot of manpower and investment, and some users also found it expensive. Including aesthetics, some users felt that it was too much and not realistic enough. Therefore, the makeup and retouching parts can be simplified. Through photography and lighting, the photos can still be very beautiful. This is what our technology can achieve, and the price can be lower than before.

36Kr: Has the adjustment already started?

Huang Yihan: Yes, we had a meeting until very late yesterday to discuss this issue. One is to launch such new products, and the other is to provide some ID photo services. For example, in our mini-program, we provide a self-check and self-test function. With a strict standard, after the user uploads the photo, they can check in advance whether the photo can pass the review.

02 Calibrating Aesthetics in Interaction

36Kr: You previously said that Haimati is an aesthetic-intensive company in the service industry.

Huang Yihan: Yes. The point that everyone is discussing today is actually "beauty".

36Kr: How do you define "beauty" now?

Huang Yihan: I recently initiated a new project called "Defining the New Generation Aesthetics of Haimati". There are several viewpoints within the company: One view is that "beauty" has no standard and should be personalized according to the needs of each user, but the cost of implementing this might be very high; the second view is that we can give the users several options in the form of pictures; the third view is that beauty has an absolute direction. Today, we need to find this direction, quantify and make it explicit as much as possible, and make fine-tuning based on the characteristics of each user.

36Kr: Which view do you belong to?

Huang Yihan: I believe that beauty is directional, and there may be several directions. I still hope to clearly tell the users what Haimati's understanding of beauty is. Because the world's aesthetics are diverse, some are more forward-looking and artistic, but perhaps not what we can do. What we have always wanted to do is "light, fast, and simple", so that the majority of Chinese people can walk into Haimati with important people at important moments and record that moment.

The artistic photo product of Haimati

36Kr: I heard that Haimati has more than 800 image retouchers?

Huang Yihan: There are approximately 800 in the headquarters and 700 in the stores.

36Kr: What is the training standard for image retouchers?

Huang Yihan: It is not a specific standard, because we cannot say "this face must be liquefied by one millimeter" or "the skin must be adjusted to this color". We will show a large number of images to the image retouchers and jointly determine which ones are not retouched enough, which ones are over-retouched, and which ones are just right. We continuously calibrate this standard in the interactive process.

36Kr: In this "beauty" standard, how much of your subjective will accounts for?

Huang Yihan: The key aesthetics may indeed be related to a small number of people, such as the R & D director, the person in charge of cloud image retouching, Wuli (the co-founder of Haimati), and I, who will discuss more. We all love things related to aesthetics, fashion, and art. With the growth of age, we have new understandings of what is beauty.

But these discussions are also completed in the process of launching new products one after another. For example, for the Christmas photos, we will conduct user research and also look at the sales situation and feedback from previous years. There may be four to five teams to make new product proposals. In these processes, the aesthetic interaction of many people is integrated, and finally a consensus is formed.

36Kr: What do you think is the difference between an ordinary photographer and a professional photographer?

Huang Yihan: I think the most fundamental thing is the humanistic quality. I often tell my friends that there are several stages in photography. The first level is just a random snapshot; the second level may have a composition and is a good-looking picture; the third level is to express a theme with emotions and viewpoints; the fourth level is to raise a good question through the photo to make everyone think. But there is also a fifth level, that is, the truly selfless state. He really feels this person today and takes the photo without any subjective part, but can express the feeling and beauty.

36Kr: Is this dependent on talent?

Huang Yihan: I'm not sure. Maybe Jobs is such a person.

36Kr: At which stage do you think you are?

Huang Yihan: I don't know. But I think that when taking photos, at least try not to have too many subjective ideas. It must be a continuous practice, but there is no need to have so much pressure. Actually, taking photos is a very relaxing thing.

36Kr: Do you hope that Haimati can achieve a more artistic and personalized photography style like this?

Huang Yihan: If you want to take such photos, the cost is at least tens of thousands of yuan, because there are only a few global photography masters. What I want to do is to allow more people to take high-quality photos. If everyone wants such photos, it may not be achievable in a short period of time.

03 This Year's Understanding of Price is Different from the Past

36Kr: The Blue Label Store, Master Store, and Mantu are the current tiers of Haimati. What is the biggest difference between them?

Huang Yihan: The price gradients are different. The starting price of a portrait in a standard store may be around 300 yuan, while a single portrait in a Master Store may be around 600 yuan; Mantu is higher. In terms of space, Master Stores are more likely to be located in luxury shopping malls, with a larger area, and the service and product styles will also be different. Currently, we have about 520 standard stores.

The work of Haimati Master Store

36Kr: For the general public, the price of the standard store seems not low.

Huang Yihan: My understanding of price this year is different from before. Every price range in China is a huge market opportunity. Unlocking a lower price range may lead to a market that is three to five times larger. This is already very clear in the milk tea and sports industries.

Previously, my view was that product performance is the first dimension, and price is "followed". But now, in fact, the price can be set first, and then we can see what the truly difficult-to-give-up and the most concerned value points for users are. There are 400 million middle-class people and 900 million mass users in China. How to serve a wider range of users is what we are studying.

36Kr: For example, in terms of the trade-off of value points?

Huang Yihan: For example, for ID photos, there can be a more reasonable combination of the three dimensions of makeup, photography, and retouching. If we look at it more broadly, where should I be today, in an office building, on the street, or must it be in a shopping mall? Shopping malls have high rents, but for some users, parking and shopping are convenient, and the experience is very good. Some other users can accept the street location, just needing it to be faster and cheaper. For different user needs, we will have different solutions in the future and more detailed price-range products.

36Kr: Then will you make products with "80-point quality and 60-point price"?

Huang Yihan: For Haimati, we still want to make 100-point products, but the price does not necessarily have to be fixed at 100 points. Through the upgrade of the product structure and the improvement of efficiency, users can experience it at an 80-point or even a 60-point price. An 80-point product with a 60-point price, I think it is also OK, and the market size will be larger. I might use a new brand to do this