Market Updates

1.       Chinese consumers celebrated the 618 shopping festival in June. This year, in addition to traditional e-commerce players represented by Tmall and JD, the top2 short video platforms, Douyin and Kuaishou, also joined the game. More details can be found on ChemLinked 618 report.

2.       After the official CBD ban, most manufacturers have fully stopped their CBD product production. Some brands have announced to stop producing CBD-contained products. However, most e-commerce platforms and brands are still selling the last batch of products. How this policy will affect international stakeholders can be found on ChemLinked.

Company Dynamics

1.       UNISKIN announced to complete its A-round of financing. UNISKIN is a domestic high-end skincare brand founded in 2018. Its founder is Dr. Du Le, who got his Ph.D. degree from UCLA and was a doctor in Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. With a solid medical background, UNISKIN quickly gains consumers’ trust. Its GMV in 2020 reached 150 million yuan.

UNISKIN’s ace product: eye cream

2.       On June 1, Florasis, one of the TOP2 domestic makeup brands in China, announced its virtual brand spokesperson, Florasis (same as the brand’s name). This action is creative since real-person spokespersons can’t stay with a brand for a long time for multiple reasons, such as aging and possible scandals, but a virtual spokesperson won’t have these problems.

3.       The emerging oral care brand, BOP, acquired 160-million-yuan financing. This new brand entered the market in November 2019 with mouthwash and teeth whitening strips as its main product line.

4.       Good Light, a new overseas male care brand, gained investment from SuperOrdinary, a famous distributor in China focusing on introducing American beauty brands to the Chinese market. This investment implies that Good Light will officially enter the Chinese market shortly.

5.       P&G launched a new skincare brand, GoodSkin MD for sensitive skin. According to P&G, about 65% of consumers have sensitive skin, and brands targeting sensitive skin proliferate recently, so P&G urges to join this market.

Good Skin MD’s products

6.       Dexter completed its B+ round of financing, securing 50 million yuan. This infant and children care brand was founded in 2017 and now has two main product lines, skincare and mosquito repellent.

7.       Tmall and Givaudan, the Swiss fragrance giant, cooperated in founding T-Lab Innovation Club. T-Lab will take advantage of Givaudan’s experience in fragrance and Tmall’s big data to shorten the product R&D process from 40 weeks to four weeks.

8.       Culti Milano, a famous fragrance brand, cooperated with Lamborghini, the luxury sports car brand to launch a fragrance product. Its prices range from 90 euros to 530 euros based on its volume.

9.       La Perla, a high-end Italian underwear brand, announced to start its beauty business, covering perfume, body care, skincare, and make-up.

LAPERIA’s perfume

10.   Three perfume brands from Shiseido Group officially enter Tmall this year. Issey Miyake and Narciso Rodriguez have already opened their Tmall store, and Serge Lutens expects to follow in July.

11.   AOEO is a successful domestic skincare brand founded in 2019. It recently completed its A-round of financing, securing over 100 million yuan. Its ace product is cleanser. For now, its monthly GMV is about 80 million yuan with a 37% repurchase rate.

AOEO‘s ace product: cleanser

12.   POP MART launched 7 beauty products in its Tmall store, including lipsticks, eye shadow, facial mask, etc. Price ranges from 50 yuan to 150 yuan. POP MART is the top1 fashion toy brand in China. This batch of beauty products is its crossover cooperation products with Judydoll, a domestic makeup brand.

13.   Yooma, a Canadian health platform, announced that it would quit the Chinese market because of the CBD ban in China.

14.   Estee Lauder Group (China) was fined 400,000 yuan for false promotion. Two brands were involved in this scandal, Clinique and Origins, because some of their products’ claims, such as removing wrinkles, improving skin self-healing ability, and etc., failed to be supported by scientific evidence and research data.

Data Browsing

1.       According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in May, China’s total retail sales of consumer goods reached 3.5945 trillion yuan, a YoY increase of 12.4%. Among them, the total retail sales of cosmetics were 31.9 billion yuan, a YoY growth of 14.6%.

2.       During the 618 shopping festival 2021, the GMV of the cosmetic category on all e-commerce platforms reached 51.2 billion yuan, with a YoY growth rate of 17.8%. More data about the beauty sector can be found in the 618 report.

3.       In 2020, South Korea’s cosmetic exports rose 16.1% to KRW 8.2877 trillion, ranking NO.3 in the world, behind France and the U.S., among which exports to China amounted to $3.8714 billion dollars, accounting for 50.3% of the total.

Regulatory Compliance

1.       On June 3, 2021, China NMPA released the finalized Administrative Measures on Cosmetics Labeling, spelling out the requirements for the cosmetics labeling and prohibited claims under China’s new cosmetic regulations. More details on ChemLinked.

2.       On June 18, China NMPA released the draft Supervision and Administration Provisions on Children Cosmetics for public consultation. Any suggestions can be mailed to huazhuangpinchu@163.com before July 31, 2021. Supervision and Administration Provisions on Children Cosmetics covers all aspects of children cosmetics supervision, including thedefinition, formula design principles, safety assessment, labeling, production and operation, registration and notification, as well as sampling inspection. Compared with the current guidance for children cosmetics, the new Provisions is stricter and more systematic. More details on ChemLinked.