New Sector Emerged in Chinese Cosmetic Market
- Chaileedo Press
- Dec 5, 2022
- 5 min read
POLA, Fancl, Shiseido, and so on have been developed in the field of inner beauty. In that way, Chinese top beauty brands certainly will not let go of this windfall.
In the era of face value economy, beauty lovers not only rely on external nourishment but also want to use inner beauty to make themselves beautiful. According to CHAILEEDO incomplete statistics, at least a dozen cosmetic-related companies have entered the field of inner beauty in the past two years including BTN, Bloomage Biotech, S’Young and so on. There are as many as seven newly born inner beauty brands.
Cosmetic companies have entered the game
According to the data released by Straits Research, the global inner beauty market size has reached 52.7 billion yuan (about $7.6 billion) in 2021. Among them, China's inner beauty market is expected to reach 28% of the global market in 2022 and is expected to become the second largest inner beauty market in the Asia-Pacific region. Another public data says that China's oral beauty market size is expected to reach 25.57 billion yuan (about $3.7 billion) in 2025.
The booming development of the inner beauty market has attracted a host of cosmetic companies to enter the market. According to CHAILEEDO incomplete statistics, 14 newly born inner beauty brands in recent years.
CHAILEEDO noticed that most of the inner beauty products launched by cosmetic-related companies are mainly positioned at the mid-range with the price of the products generally set at less than 600 yuan (about $86). In terms of ingredients, the above inner beauty products are mostly based on collagen and hyaluronic acid. A veteran of the industry pointed out that, "10 years ago when inner beauty products were popular, most of the products were focusing on the collagen. After the media revealed many false propaganda of inner beauty products, the trend of inner beauty came to an end. This year, the cosmetic industry has really taken off again with the trend of inner beauty."
As the above-mentioned senior person said, listed cosmetic companies such as Bloomage Biotech, BTN and S’Young have entered the inner beauty this year. In January 2021, the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China announced that hyaluronic acid was approved as a "new food ingredient", which undoubtedly gave Bloomage Biotech sufficient place to plough into the inner beauty sector. After this, Bloomage Biotech and Winona have launched their own oral beauty products.
And also S’Young targeted the field of inner beauty. In May this year, Beijing QingYan BoShi Health Management Co., Ltd. underwent industrial and commercial changes, adding S’Young as a shareholder, with a shareholding of about 4.3%. It is understood that the company has a inner beauty brand Five Doctors. The brand was created by five female doctors from Peking University. The main ingredient of the series of products of this brand are collagen peptides and elastin peptides. It is worth noting that the brand sales are considerable. Its monthly sales volume is 30,000 + units in its flagship store on Taobao. It is easy to see that China's inner beauty craze has been making a "comeback" with the awakening of a new generation of consumers' health consciousness.
Why do inner beauty become popular?
In addition to Chinese local cosmetic companies, Shiseido, an internationally renowned cosmetics group, has also said it will pay much attention on the inner beauty sector. In June this year, the Shiseido Group launched a new inner beauty brand, INRYU, developed specifically for Asian women in China. It also made the world debut of a new inner beauty product, Shiseido Probiotic Freeze-Dried Powder, at the Fifth CIIE held recently.
The head of Shiseido China's oral beauty business unit said publicly, "Shiseido already has 10 oral beauty brands in Japan, the group's third largest category after skincare and color cosmetics. In 2023, Shiseido Group will establish a global inner beauty business unit, which will focus on China and expand the inner beauty business to the world. "
So, why a number of cosmetic companies entered the inner beauty at the moment?
TCI, which is a brand has been working in the field of inner beauty for many years. Its executive vice president, Lin Yonghao, analyze that, in terms of market trends, the methods and visualization of efficacy verification are becoming more and more mature with the progress of science. Inner beauty has gone from being stigmatized to becoming a new science. Moreover, there are many large beauty brands in the field of inner beauty to successfully create a second curve of corporate growth including Chinese and international brands. Brands that pioneered the sector include POLA, Fancl, Shiseido and so on. Because of this, it also promotes the Chinese head beauty brands to study the path of successful companies, and then to adjust the strategy and products for their own brands.
In the implementation of the Health Food Raw Material Catalogue and Health Care Function Catalogue Management Measures from October 1, 2019, 15 new food ingredients such as hyaluronic acid were approved in 2021, etc. The relaxation of policies and regulations will help the market develop more diversified.
30 years with chance and obstacles
According to public information, the earliest inner beauty products in China can be traced back to Taitai Koufuye, which was once popular across China. In 1994, the annual sales of Taitai Koufuye reached 160 million yuan (about $23 million).
However, Taitai Koufuye did not always stand in the center of the market. In 2003, Taitai Pharmaceuticals changed its name to Joincare Pharmaceuticals. The company shifted from health care products to medical technology. Taitai Koufuye gradually faded from the public.
Just at the same time, Shiseido, DHC and other Japanese companies launched collagen products into China one after another, driving the awareness of the entire collagen inner beauty industry and making collagen a popular category. The other side of the industry's rapid development, however, is the imperfect rules and loopholes in regulation. In 2013, along with the disclosure of "The Beauty Myth of Collagen", the collagen industry focused on rectification. Since then, the inner beauty and even inner health care industry has been in a period of freezing.
However, after a few years of silence, the development of cross-border trade and e-commerce has brought new development opportunities for inner beauty products, according to Lin Yonghao, executive vice president of TCI. In addition to international brands such as GNC and Swisse, which have entered the Chinese market earlier, there is also the inner beauty brand YRY, which has become popular in the Wechat business channel in the Chinese market.
Overall, the Chinese inner beauty market has seen a high improvement after nearly 30 years of development. However, the sector is also facing new challenges and dilemmas.
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