Understanding the promising consumer scenes is critical for brands, as it implies opportunities to expand into new markets and develop new products. In this article, ChemLinked delves into three promising consumer scenes in China, shedding light on the mainstream products bought under the corresponding scenes. By doing so, ChemLinked hopes to offers some guidance for brands seeking to capitalise on these burgeoning market segments.
Scene 1: Hair Loss
Resulted from unhealthy life habits like staying up late, eating greasy food, etc., and excessive mental stress, a large number of Chinese consumers suffer from hair loss. According to the National Health Commission, more than 250 million Chinese people have trouble with hair loss, indicating an average of 1 in 6 experiencing this problem, especially the younger generation between 26 and 30, accounting for 41.9% of the total. Given the significant number of alopecia sufferer, hair loss has become a promising market segment for brands to enter.
In this scene, consumers purchase both topical and oral products to reduce hair loss. In terms of products for external use, applying hair growth medicine is the most effective method in consumers’ opinion. The compound growth rate of people switching from other products to anti hair loss and hair growth drugs in the past three years has reached 69%.[1] Minoxidil is one of the well-known ingredients, with more than 80% consumers known it and 25% consumers with alopecia currently utilising it. [1]
Besides, many consumers use shampoos with anti hair loss function to alleviate this issue, especially preferring those containing Chinese medicine ingredients represented by ginger, allopia multiflora and ginseng. CBNData’s survey showed that 63% of consumers chose this method to alleviate hair loss in 2023. [1] The top 3 most popular anti hair loss items on JD in 2023 are Rene Furterer’s shampoo containing ginseng, Bawang’s collection of shampoo & essence with ginseng and allopia multiflora, and BodyAid’s ginger shampoo.
Concerning products consumed orally, consumers prefer food with nutrients and nourishment that are effective for hair care and hair loss prevention. Key nutrients closely related to these functions are vitamins, minerals and proteins, among which biotin (vitamin B7) is one of the most welcome nutrients. Moreover, since the younger generation is currently the major consumer group troubled by alopecia, biotin gummies with attractive appearance are more popular on the market. The statistics of Mktindex indicated that the online sales of biotin gummies on Ali platforms exceeded CNY 24.5 million in 2021, with a year-on-year growth of 308%. [2]
Unichi’s, Olly’s & H&B’s Biotin Gummies
As for nourishment, black sesame is highly recognised and recommended by consumers. There is a wide range of black sesame products on the Chinese market, including black sesame balls, drinks and powder. Taking the black sesame balls as an example, various brands like snack food brand Bestore, functional food brand Wugumofang and traditional Chinese medicine brand Tongrentang have launched this type of product.
Bestore’s, Wugumofang’s & Tongrentang’s Black Sesame Ball
Scene 2: Late-Night Life Style
A majority of young people in China formed the habit of staying up late because they tend to utilise the nighttime for entertainment to compensate for the stressful daytime routine. A report showed that post-95s and 00s often slept after midnight and nearly 40% of them stayed up late every day. [3]
This unhealthy life style, on the one hand, raises skincare problems, which contributes to consumers’ purchasing of skincare products used in the night like sleeping masks, night essence, night cream and eye cream to repair the skin. The Douyin market size of skincare products for problems led by staying up late is growing rapidly, with a year-on-year growth of 230% from January to July 2023. At present, acne problem is consumers of late-night life style most concerned about, according to their notes on Xiaohongshu and comments on Douyin. To deal with this problem, consumers prefer to purchase mask products, which accounted for 47.62% of the top 500 best-selling skincare products for staying up late on Douyin during Jan-Jul 2023. [4]
On the other hand, the late-night life style can have negative impacts on people’s liver, vision, etc. in the long term. To mitigate these effects, many consumers opt for functional food products. For instance, with respect of liver health protection, functional food containing milk thistle, artichoke and turmeric are welcomed by consumers. Various overseas health food brands like Swisse, By-health, Blackmores and H&B have launched products involving these ingredients and sell them on Tmall through the cross-border e-commerce channel. Regarding eye protection, products enriched with lutein are highly recognised, available in capsule and gummy forms. For instance, Unichi has a type of eye defence gummy containing 5mg lutein per piece with blueberry flavour.
Scene 3: Insomnia
Sleeplessness is another problem troubling Chinese people on account of the multiple pressure from job and life. According to a report released by the Chinese Sleep Big Data Center in 2023, the insomnia rate of Chinese adults reached 38.2%, representing 510 million people in China having sleep disorders. [5] Additionally, similar to the age distribution of alopecia, an increasing number of young age groups suffer from insomnia. A report by Chinese Sleep Research Society indicated that the post-90s occupied 36.7% of the total number of insomnia sufferer. While 67.4% of Chinese people have purchased commodities helpful to sleep, the post 90s accounted for 62% of these consumers. [6]
To relieve the problem, food products featuring sleep aid ingredients are popular categories consumed by Chinese people. At present, the most common ingredients are melatonin and herbal extracts such as GABA, L-theanine and ziziphus jujuba spinosa kernel. Melatonin products in the Chinese market consist of health food and functional food. For instance, the Chinese health food brand By-health has a melatonin health food product with milk flavour. American nutritional soft sweets brand Olly unveiled two sugar products containing 1.5mg and 2.5mg melatonin per piece to cater for consumers with mild and moderate to serious sleep problems, respectively.
Notes: Health food is registered or filed food with health ingredients. It is authorised with a blue hat sign and allowed to claim functions. Functional food refers to common food containing functional ingredients but is not registered/filed and can not claim specific health functions.
As for herbal extracts, GABA has been a thriving ingredient in recent years and occupies an important position in the market of sleep aid products. According to Mktindex, the total online sales of GABA products on Taobao and Tmall were CNY 160 million in 2021, with a year-on-year increase of 267.5%. [6] The GABA products are primarily functional food in different forms like capsules, gummies and drinks. Moreover, these products are mostly added with other herbal extracts to help consumers soothe mood and improve sleep quality. For example, WonderLab has a type of grape-flavoured gummy containing GABA and L-theanine, with zero sugar and low calories. Mengniu’s functional food brand NOPA has a milk product including GABA and ziziphus jujuba spinosa kernel powder.
ChemLinked Insights
Since these three scenes witnessed an increasing number of younger consumers, brands can roll out more products in various forms to attract them. Meanwhile, apart from the mainstream ingredients, enterprises may seek new efficient ingredients to gain competitive advantages in the market. More products under the three scenes are expected in the future.
Disclaimer: All pictures used in the article are from the Internet.
