Bananain: The secret to its breakthrough lies in 100 online documents

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About Bananain

Founded in 2016, Bananain launched its first product in 2017 and went on to achieve over 100% annual sales growth for four consecutive years. By the end of 2020, the company was valued at 2.5 billion yuan, becoming the highest-valued underwear brand in China in nearly a decade. Later, it continued to expand its product lines to meet the full-category needs of household scenarios. Bananain stands as a textbook case study in modern business research.

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Bananain and DingTalk Docs

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Boosting employee collaboration efficiency

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😖 Pain points

Bananain employees previously collaborated through Office spreadsheets created on self-hosted servers. Once information was modified, the previous version would be overwritten. For example, if order information in the spreadsheet—such as date, color, or size—was changed, no one could detect the change or trace who made it or through which channel. The only option was point-to-point messaging.

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💡 Value

Bananain migrated its entire Knowledge Base, including collaborative spreadsheets and documents, to DingTalk. Multi-version history tracking makes it easy to trace changes, lowers communication costs, and keeps information synchronized in real time.

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Making tacit employee knowledge explicit to build a growth-oriented organization

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😖 Pain points

Rapid headcount growth makes it difficult to maintain high-caliber Team capability. Traditional working models are constrained by the ceiling of individual intelligence. Each Employee’s knowledge is locked within the individual—however talented they may be, the contribution to the Team remains limited.

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💡 Value

Bananain leverages its Knowledge Base to accumulate digital assets, standardizing and making employee expertise reusable. In Bananain’s DingTalk Docs, knowledge from various departments is consolidated into more than 30 knowledge bases. Each Team builds SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) within the Knowledge Base by collecting project specifications, workflows, and design files. When any Employee opens the Knowledge Base, project goals, work standards, processes, and execution paths are crystal clear.

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01 | The secret of “Cool Skin” lies in 100 online spreadsheets

From the Cool Skin sun protection series, the Hot Skin warmth series, and the Plush Home series, to the soft-support bra series for the Queen’s Day promotion in 2022, the birth and success of nearly 100 products can all be traced through DingTalk Docs online spreadsheets. In 2021, the lead of the Cool Skin sun protection product line built a spreadsheet in DingTalk Docs. Within this single spreadsheet, every workflow and Collaboration—spanning product planning, design follow-up, craftsmanship confirmation, development tracking, and bulk production tracking—was transparently presented. The process spanned a full six months. For him, the online Spreadsheet enabled asynchronous Collaboration with clear Context and well-organized structure. All information was openly and transparently presented to every User in the project, eliminating the need to track people down via Chat or Phone calls. People could quickly find the information they needed at their own convenience. Even in the early hours of the morning, they could instantly Share work Progress or Upload work materials. “I break down the entire product workflow in DingTalk Docs and invite Colleagues to collaborate. We can edit simultaneously or asynchronously, and after any change, everyone can sync up in the project group.” In a DingTalk Spreadsheet, simply ”@” a Colleague on an item that requires Collaboration, and the task will appear in their conversation. Colleagues can quickly hop on, resolve the issue based on the Context, and avoid the time wasted on repeatedly synchronizing information—staying focused on the matter at hand. For items that require follow-up, Bananain employees often generate a task directly within a Cell, which then syncs to their personal To-Do list. With a single Table, they can grasp the rhythm of the entire product line, track project Progress in real time, and ensure clear ownership and closed-loop execution for every item. In the past, Bananain collaborated through Office spreadsheets created on self-hosted servers. Once information was modified, the previous Version would be overwritten. For example, if order information in the spreadsheet—such as date, color, or size—was changed, no one could detect the change or trace who made it or through which channel. The only option was point-to-point messaging. Now, Bananain has moved its entire Knowledge Base, including collaborative spreadsheets and documents, to DingTalk. Multi-version history tracking makes it easy to trace changes, lowers communication costs, and keeps information synchronized in real time. A single Table not only manages the product lifecycle but also delivers value during major promotional milestones. In the recent 618 promotion, Bananain set up a dedicated command Team and used a single Table to coordinate joint operations across the merchandise department, marketing department, supply chain, and retail operations center. This ensured product availability and supply throughout the campaign, with categories such as underwear, socks, and loungewear continuing to lead the industry in sales. Tools are merely the means; Collaboration is a culture. After adopting DingTalk Docs, Bananain has improved internal collaborative management efficiency across the board.

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02 | Turning one person’s talent into a Team’s way of working

Over the past year, Bananain expanded its Team from 200 to 800 people, served more than 10 million users, and generated 1.9 billion yuan in GMV through online channels in 2021—an unimaginable achievement in the traditional basics apparel industry. How can a Team continue to deliver high-caliber performance amid rapid headcount growth? Bananain believes that traditional working models are constrained by the ceiling of individual intelligence—no matter how talented someone is, their energy is finite. Bananain leverages knowledge accumulation to standardize and make this expertise reusable. In Bananain’s DingTalk Docs, knowledge from various departments is consolidated into more than 30 knowledge bases. Each Team builds SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) within the Knowledge Base by collecting project specifications, workflows, and design files. When any Employee opens the Knowledge Base, project goals, work standards, processes, and execution paths are crystal clear. For example, Bananain runs four product seasons each year—spring, summer, autumn, and winter—with multiple product lines running in parallel across different categories. Fragmented project materials such as plans, designs, and Progress updates are structured and stored in dedicated knowledge bases, making it easy for everyone to retrieve information quickly. Meeting recap content can also be uploaded and archived to the Knowledge Base. Today, Bananain employees are accustomed to collaborating in online documents. During projects, they can aggregate information from different departments online, efficiently completing the early-stage research and project planning for hit products, while enabling efficient two-way Collaboration across departments and teams. Later, this Content is consolidated into knowledge bases, gradually forming Team-wide SOPs that Share the issues encountered at work and the corresponding solutions. New department members can quickly understand the business through summary documents accumulated in the Knowledge Base by Team members, lowering the learning curve and accelerating Team integration. This approach to knowledge accumulation has improved the efficiency of internal information flow at Bananain, enabling more employees to participate in decision-making and turning one person’s talent into a Team’s way of working. In organizational development, Bananain has grown into a knowledge-intensive company.