International Giants Vies to Build R&D Center in China
- Chaileedo Press
- Jan 16, 2023
- 3 min read
China has long become an major battlefield for all major beauty groups, international beauty giants have set up their own local R&D departments to seize the Chinese market.
Recently, Estee Lauder's China R&D Innovation Center was officially opened, this is the third upgrade of Estee Lauder China R&D Center. It is the world's first comprehensive R&D Center that offers a mix of conception, insight and clinical medicine.
It is par for the course for the beauty giants to deploy R&D centers in China, and many of the international groups established their own units at the start of their entry into China. In 2000, after recognizing the enormous potential of Chinese cosmetics market, many international beauty groups began their blueprint on R&D center on the basis of the R&D department to further expand the Chinese market.
Procter&Gamble was the pacesetter of establishing R&D center. In 1998, aiming for geographical proximity to Beijing, the economic, cultural, and talent center at that time, P&G moved its R&D unit in Guangzhou to Tsinghua University Science Park and named it Procter&Gamble Technology Beijing Co., Ltd. (Procter & Gamble Beijing Technical Center). Now, this brand has been here to stay for 34 years.
It is not just Procter&Gamble that is attracted by Beijing's rapid-developing economy and culture. In 2001, as the first international beauty group to enter China, Shiseido established Shiseido China Research Center Co., Ltd. in Beijing to further meet the needs of Chinese customers. Afterwards the center has been upgraded several times and opened up a branch in Shanghai in 2015, embarking on support for the R&D of Urara, Pure&Mild and Aquair.
Beyond that, L'Oréal, Estee Lauder, Cosmax and other international cosmetics enterprises established R&D centers in China in 2004-2005. For example, Estee Lauder set up China's first R&D center in Shanghai in 2005, launching its first product, M·A·C LIP SCRUBTIOUS GOMMAGE LEVRES, within three years. Since then, the center has been responsible for Estee Lauder Super-pomegranate series, Cyber White Extra Brightening series, Clinique Dramatically Different moisturing Lotion series, Hydrating Supercharged Concentrate series, and Estee Lauder's air cushion powder base, Clinique Dramatically Hydrating Different Jelly and other hot-selling products.
In fact, the transformation of R&D centers also witnessed the evolution of these international beauty products and continuous expansion of market sway.
This December, Estee Lauder upgraded the R&D Center and moved it to the Shanghai Caohejing Development Zone, naming it "Estee Lauder China Innovation R&D Center". At present, the Estee Lauder Chinese team has applied for more than ten international patents, covering Chinese herbal medicine formulations, extraction, personalized diagnosis, powder processing, new material development, new packaging design and so on.
The P&G Beijing R&D Center has become the largest R&D center in Asia, and in 2021 P&G set up the Greater China Intelligent Technology Innovation Center in Guangzhou, one of the three largest global smart technology innovation centers, and the first in Asia to specialize in full-link technology innovation in smart manufacturing and supply chains.
In fact, from the past development of Chinese cosmetics market, we can see that the investment of all major international beauty groups in China R&D center is accompanied by the continuous expansion of Chinese cosmetics market. At present, China has long become an major battlefield for all major beauty groups. At this year's CIIE, Zeng Xiwen, the president of Unilever's China Public Affairs Department, said the Chinese market is one of Unilever's three major markets in the world. Estee Lauder has also noted that China has become the "Second Home Court" of Estee Lauder Group.
Comments