June 1st

A Souvenir Brand Born from 'Love'

When it comes to gifting during the festive season, many people might think of egg roll gift boxes; so when it comes to egg rolls, which brands come to mind? One that you might think of is '8-Shaped Egg Rolls'.

8-Shaped Egg Rolls was founded by entrepreneur Shen Shaolan in 2017, and it has now become the largest gift shop e-commerce brand in Taiwan. The ability of 8-Shaped Egg Rolls to reach such scale in just a few years relies on Shen Shaolan's precise and macro planning.

With precise brand positioning, "Love" enters the souvenir market

The original intention of 8-Shaped Egg Rolls is to provide consumers with a sense of warmth and sincerity. This spirit was the foundation upon which 8-Shaped Egg Rolls was established to enter the souvenir market. However, Shen Shaolan is well aware that if there is no differentiation, this alone is not enough. She mentioned that Taiwanese people enjoy giving gifts and sharing and place great importance on etiquette; therefore, there are many situations for gifting souvenirs, ranging from small elementary school reunions and housewarming gifts to large corporate New Year gift boxes. Thus, she divides these "souvenirs" into various sizes of gift boxes, categorizing them by different price points, sizes, and specifications, positioning them for gift exchanges, New Year gift boxes, or special occasions such as celebrations. She also collaborates and co-brands with major brands, distinguishing various markets and precisely establishing brand positioning to create differentiation. She further explained that although the Taiwanese appreciate gifts, their character is very modest, so they like to convey their feelings through gifting. Gift-giving is like a form of "ingratiation," expressing gratitude and hoping for continued care from the other party. Therefore, the concept of "8-Shaped Egg Rolls" originates from this, not only does the pun bring a smile, but the product's shape also creates a multi-layered texture.

Creating product uniqueness and differentiation, forging the globally unique '8 Knot Egg Roll' myth

The innovative shape of 8-Shaped Egg Rolls has carved out a billion-dollar path among competing peers, thanks to Shen Shaolan's long-term solid foundation in online marketing. She knew that she had to first conduct market analysis, as the well-established egg roll brands in Taiwan have a history of over 40 years. As a small company, she lacked the resources to develop distribution channels and advertise. She remembered what Professor Chen Zongxian told her in class: 'Market positioning is very important; you need to create differentiation.' So she started by improving the appearance of the product.

But this was not an easy task; it went through many tests along the way, such as how to knead the dough and control the temperature. This caused Shen Shaolan to spend a lot of effort before succeeding.

And because she is skilled in online marketing, Shen Shaolan positioned the entire company as an e-commerce business for food baking, not following traditional channels or street stores, but doing everything online to build the brand.

She knew that word of mouth and communication with customers were very important, especially for online communication, so the 8-Shaped Egg Rolls continuously conveys the brand's philosophy online.

By carving out a market position and collaborating with major brand IPs, she could understand online group preferences, utilizing different methods and traffic sources. Through data analysis, she can introduce various platforms, operating in different ways for young people and big bosses alike. This is all thanks to her past experiences and Professor Chen's guidance, which enables her to formulate brand strategies and positions.

Implementing education and training, and establishing team consensus, is essential for effectively promoting brand philosophy.

How to encourage customer repurchase and provide good service is certainly key. Shen Shaolan also mentioned that the simplest approach is to ensure the product is delicious and maintain quality control; since we are selling gifts, the company's image is also very important to customers. Therefore, she has high demands for team training, with certain standards in after-sales service, in-store displays, and more. In the first year and a half of the brand's establishment, she required all department heads to attend courses at Lian Sheng, thus the team from top to bottom established a consistent understanding of the brand's operational methods, which also strengthened the basic management concepts and logic. Shen Shaolan believes that a leader must establish a good value transmission, as the brand philosophy must be deepened within the enterprise. Like a compass, all operational details should be based on it, guiding a path that everyone should follow; hence, consensus is very important. Every partner must have the mindset to do things well, so that the brand philosophy can be promoted more effectively. Over the long term, June First continues to conduct education and training, fostering a good corporate culture, which can encourage all partners to have a consistent goal.

Design a 5-year strategic map, combining the concept of concentric circles, to double the performance again

Once the entire company has a unified goal, Shen Shao-Lan also leads the team to create a 5-year plan, taking the team to participate in the practical class for strategic mapping and the annual planning special class at Lian Sheng.

The reason for choosing Lian Sheng is mainly because Professor Chen Zong-Xian's course focuses on practical aspects. In addition to the basic framework, Professor Chen can provide everyone with a consistent direction, which expands Shen Shao-Lan's understanding of management and marketing. Learning from Professor Chen can elevate the team to the same height.

Creating a strategic map and an annual plan is a company-wide endeavor. The company's system, vision, and goals must be consistent from top to bottom. Shen Shao-Lan also leads by example, never missing any classes; even if she has to travel to Taipei or Kaohsiung for make-up classes, she will certainly attend. This is a crucial indicator of the spirit and corporate culture.

She continuously tells the team that the strategic map is very important. It is necessary to assess the market situation and review the performance figures from the past three years, and to work backward from the vision five years later to see whether the current direction and operational policies are correct. Resources should be re-integrated, and then the layout for the future should be considered. Based on this, the annual business plan for each year is developed and subsequently handed over to various departments to initiate their annual plans.

Once the annual plan begins to be executed, the O’PDCA management cycle (O, Objective; P, Plan; D, Do; C, Check; A, Action) is used to examine the current execution results against the goals, considering whether to revise strategies or redefine policies; if so, the entire company must move forward together.

In this way, the speed of corporate growth can be multiplied. It is not just the boss working hard, but everyone in the company shares a common vision and goal, working together to achieve this vision. Moreover, while June First continues to develop in its main business, it also expands in a concentric manner, starting from its signature egg rolls and extending into snacks and dried fruits. This is because a strategy map was created, knowing to conduct market research to clearly see the trends and changes that may occur, thereby understanding how to layout the plan. Shen Shaolan also knows that the gift market itself is limited by a smaller market size, but the audience it can reach is relatively broad. Therefore, during the process of establishing the strategy map, several major decisions were made, such as developing in the field of tourism. This year (2023), June First opened a brand concept store on Taipei's Dihua Street, raising the brand's profile to an international level while also helping to attract more customers to the Dihua Street business district. Shen Shaolan shared that if one does not clearly see the market trends, anyone would feel anxious. However, once there is a strategy and a plan, there is no need to be anxious because one can move in the right direction.

Focusing on ESG for Sustainable Business Development

Shen Shaolan believes that ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) is something every business must take seriously. She currently breaks down her ESG approach into short-, medium-, and long-term phases.

In the initial phase, she established two social enterprise brands:

The first is Cheng Zhen (成真) Café, which donates 50% of its profits to fund well-drilling projects in Africa.
The second is Lao Mai Niang (老梅釀), which channels its profits to support plum farmers in Kaohsiung.
When it comes to products, the company prioritizes sourcing from social enterprises.

In the area of charitable education, the focus is on youth education, with investments made in educational organizations.

The final component is corporate governance, which is a long-term effort,
including HR management, finance, and IT infrastructure, as well as building a strong corporate culture and brand vision—all of which must be continuously developed.

Although there is still a long way to go,
Shen Shaolan emphasizes that only by achieving brand sustainability and sound corporate governance
can a company fully fulfill its social responsibility.