Laifen opened its first offline flagship store in Shenzhen, where a robot blows your hair on-site.

Author: Ou Xue

Editor: Yuan Silai

Laifen, a personal care brand that quickly rose to prominence with its online blockbuster product strategy, is now shifting its focus to offline channels.

On November 15th, Laifen Technology's first offline flagship store opened at COCOPark in Futian, Shenzhen. The brand also announced that its offline retail business will enter a period of rapid development in 2026, aiming to cover 20 cities and open 300 stores.

Currently, the personal care appliance industry has transitioned from incremental competition to stock competition. Relying solely on online traffic and price wars has become increasingly difficult to build sustainable competitive barriers.

As a result, the value of offline channels is being re - evaluated. Offline channels are not only sales terminals but also crucial places for brand display, user experience accumulation, and service closure.

In fact, it is not uncommon for personal care brands to expand from online to offline. usmile's offline strategy mainly focuses on beauty channels and high - end department stores. It has entered Sephora and the beauty collection areas in MixC and SKP, breaking through from the personal care sector to the beauty industry.

Roborock's offline layout is more ecological. The core of its offline experience stores is to build real - life solutions. Consumers can immerse themselves in experiencing how the entire product line, from floor scrubbers and sweeping robots to high - speed hair dryers, works in synergy.

However, expanding from online to offline is not an easy task. This means that personal care brands need to face challenges such as product trials, cost structures, operational logics, and user relationships.

For Laifen, given the long repurchase cycle of personal care hardware, the key to the success of its offline strategy lies in how to make consumers willing to visit its "personal care stores" repeatedly.

Goal of 300 Stores in 2026

Laifen's offline layout did not start from scratch.

From 2021 to 2024, Laifen adopted a more lightweight offline approach by placing its products in large - scale supermarkets (such as Walmart and Costco), chain stores (such as Sunning Tesco and Watsons), and high - end chain hotels.

This "riding on someone else's success" approach allowed Laifen to achieve initial offline brand exposure and user reach at a relatively low cost.

"In the early stage, we didn't open independent stores mainly because the number of SKUs was limited, and we couldn't meet a wide range of consumer needs. Opening stores rashly at that time might not have achieved ideal indicators such as footfall." A relevant person in charge of Laifen explained that the brand previously implemented a single - blockbuster strategy. Supermarkets and stores have the advantages of flexible display and controllable costs, which are more conducive to breaking through with a single product. This also became the core path of its early offline layout.

The turning point came in 2025. With the launch of electric toothbrushes and razors, Laifen formed a product matrix of "three personal care essentials", giving it the confidence to open independent stores.

Within a week after the release of the razor in May this year, Laifen opened its first offline store in Yifang City, Bao'an, Shenzhen. By the opening of the flagship store in mid - November, it had quickly opened 10 stores in Shenzhen.

After half a year of model verification, its offline strategy has finally shifted from "testing the waters" to "full - scale development", and it has officially set an expansion goal of 300 stores, focusing on the three major core economic circles of the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, and Chengdu - Chongqing.

It is reported that Laifen's future stores will be divided into three major types: "pop - up stores" in the middle islands of shopping malls, "brand image stores" for medium - and long - term operation, and "brand flagship stores" with multiple functions.

In addition to the basic sales function, the COCOPark flagship store in Shenzhen also offers services such as after - sales support, DIY customization, offline experience, and cultural and creative products.

Laifen store's "laser engraving" DIY service (Source: Company)

On the opening day of the flagship store, 36Kr saw that Laifen's store also arranged for a robot to blow customers' hair on - site. Customers could also try out razors and electric toothbrushes at the sink.

Laifen store arranges a robot to blow customers' hair on - site (Source: Company)

Notably, Laifen's offline stores have a different sales structure from online. Online, hair dryers are still the absolute mainstay; offline, the sales ratio of electric toothbrushes, razors, and hair dryers is close to 1:1:1. In some stores, the sales of electric toothbrushes and razors are even better than that of hair dryers.

About New Product Categories

On the opening day of the offline flagship store, 36Kr learned that Laifen's offline expansion is largely due to the commissioning of its super factory and the gradual clarification of new product category planning.

In August this year, Laifen's super factory was officially put into operation. This manufacturing center, covering an area of over 200,000 square meters and employing more than 4,000 people, can produce all core molds, motors, and high - quality surface spraying in - house.

A relevant brand person in charge of Laifen revealed that after the launch of the razor in May this year, the brand encountered a production capacity bottleneck, which affected its sales performance. However, with the commissioning of the super factory and efficiency optimization, it was able to meet market demand during the Double 11 period.

Alongside the super factory, a reliability laboratory built with an investment of tens of millions of yuan was also unveiled.

In fact, this investment addresses the pain points in the brand's growth. In the early stage of launching new products such as electric toothbrushes, Laifen faced doubts from some users about the product's durability and consistency. The reliability laboratory located in the factory can better control quality and cost.

Laifen's reliability laboratory (Source: Company)

In addition, Laifen said: "2026 will be the year when Laifen launches the most new product categories."

36Kr learned that in the near future, Laifen will launch the second - generation sweeping and vibrating electric toothbrush in December. By 2026, Laifen plans to expand beyond the "three personal care essentials".

In Laifen's flagship store, some details reveal the direction of its category expansion: all the lighting systems in the store are self - developed. Meanwhile, the clean floors and cleaning procedures in the store also lead to associations with cleaning products.

The opening scene of Laifen's flagship store (Source: Company)

When asked whether it will break through the personal care sector, a relevant person in charge of Laifen hinted that one could guess the direction of new products based on the existing layout of mirrors, lights, and floors in the store. These signals together indicate that Laifen is continuously expanding from the personal care sector, which is also a common practice for home appliance companies.