China's total retail sales of cosmetics showed the first negative growth in nearly five years in April, with a year-on-year decline of 22.3% and an amount of US $3.171 billion. The relevant manager of China's National Bureau of Statistics said bluntly, "The epidemic in April had a great impact on economic operation". Affected by repeated epidemics, large-scale suspension of logistics, sharp reduction of customer flow and other factors, cosmetics workers have experienced "the most difficult four months in history". China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released retail sales data for the first four months of 2022 on May 16, BST (all times of this article are Beijing time). From January to April, the total retail sales of social consumer goods exceeded US $2047.264 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 0.2%. Among them, the retail sales of consumer goods other than automobiles reached 1849.64 billion US dollars, an increase of 0.8%. In April, China's total retail sales of social consumer goods reached US $436.938 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 11.1%. NBS said that since the beginning of this year, the new downward pressure on the economy has further increased due to the more complex and severe international environment and the obvious impact of the Chinese epidemic. Specifically, the total retail sales of cosmetics in China in April was US $3.171 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 22.3%; From January to April, the total retail sales of cosmetics reached US $17.31 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 3.6%, which is also the first decline in the cumulative total retail sales of cosmetics in China this year. According to data released last month, China's total retail sales of cosmetics in the first quarter were $14.064 billion, up 1.8% year-on-year. Based on the data released by NBS over the years, April witnessed this year the first negative growth of China’s total retail sales of cosmetics in recent five years, which shows the sluggish performance of China's cosmetics market in April. It is worth noting that, according to the data released by the General Administration of Customs, China's imports of beauty cosmetics and toiletries were 35200.2 tons in the first four months of 2022, a year-on-year decrease of 22.9%; The import amount was US $1.955 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 9.28%. Recently, Shiseido and Kose released their first-quarter earnings reports, showing that due to the COVID-19 lockdown in China, the overall sales in China except Hainan showed a declining trend, with Shiseido losing over 22 million US dollars in China. The beauty supply chain normally affects the whole body. Shanghai, who plays an important role in China's beauty industry, has been hit hard by the epidemic in the past few months, which had a significant impact on China's cosmetics industry. What really affects business is "logistics", which is almost at a standstill until now.At a press conference on Shanghai's epidemic prevention and control work held on May 16, Shanghai announced that the prevention and control work in the city had achieved initial results, and normal production and life order would be restored in three stages starting from May 16, and fully restored in June. Previously, Shanghai has determined the white list of two batches of enterprises that have resumed work and production, and many large companies such as Shanghai Jahwa said they have begun to resume work and production in an orderly manner. For all enterprises, the ultimate goal is to completely unseal and resume work. At present, there are still many problems to be optimized in terms of enterprise resumption and logistics. "There is still a demand for raw materials and packaging materials for a small number of resumption of work, which brings relatively large restrictions in this regard. In addition, if it is impossible for all staff to resume work, there will still be insufficient manpower." According to Chinese insiders, the biggest difficulty after returning to work is still the difficulty of various material support caused by epidemic control, such as the necessary living materials for employees in the factory. Another senior person pointed out that priority should be given to the resumption of the factory, which can solve the short-term shortage of goods, but the subsequent logistics, raw materials, containers, cartons, etc. need to be restored as well.  "Because a single formula includes 20 to 40 kinds of raw materials, it can't be done without one, or without one container and packaging material." He stressed that "Ensuring the whole supply chain including raw materials and containers is the key to sustainable development."

Yige Group, the parent company of Florasis, announced that its first CMF laboratory established by a beauty brand in China was officially put into operation. The establishment of the laboratory will help the breakthrough of brand categories and the prediction of Chinese popular color trends and continue to deepen the construction of Oriental fashion system and Oriental beauty R&D system. On May 17, BST, Yige Group, the parent company of Florasis, officially unveiled the CMF laboratory and announced its use. It is the first CMF laboratory established by beauty brands in China. It is reported that the R&D strategy previously announced by Yige group includes five R&D centers, including the cosmetics science and innovation center, industrial design, and CMF R&D center. The CMF laboratory unveiled this time is an important part of its industrial design and CMF R&D center. According to public information, CMF is the abbreviation for Color, Material, and Finishing, involving material science, colorology, engineering, psychology, aesthetics, etc., and is a comprehensive cross product of various disciplines, fashion trends, process technology, innovative materials, and aesthetic concepts. At present, only a few enterprises or universities in China, such as Huawei and Jiangnan University, have set up special laboratories to carry out relevant research. And there is no precedent in the field of Chinese beauty, so Florasis has become the first brand with CMF laboratory in the field of Chinese cosmetics. According to the manager of Yige Industrial Design and CMF R&D center, the laboratory currently has a series of leading equipment and a research team of nearly 20 people, who have worked in the field of CMF for an average of 5 years, with rich research and practical experience. Globally speaking, beauty brands such as P&G, Dior, and Hermes have already carried out corresponding research and established competitive barriers in the field of product power such as material preservation and environmental protection materials. Colors of International brands like Tiffany blue, Hermes orange, Valentino red all impressed global consumers with their distinctive brand colors. In the future, exploring the trend of fashion color is also a subject that Chinese brands must study in improving their fashion influence. At present, Florasis has also reached strategic cooperation with Promostyl, an international top fashion trend research institution. In the future, the two sides will carry out close cooperation on "contemporary interpretation, trend development, and application of Chinese traditional colors". This is also the first strategic cooperation between Promostyl and any Chinese beauty brands. Born in 2017, Florasis has been holding the concept of "Oriental makeup with flowers". During the "Double 11" in 2021, its turnover of it exceeded 46 million US dollars, ranking third among Chinese brands of Tmall cosmetics, the mainstream e-commerce platform in China; In 2021, its sales exceeded the US $741 million. It is worth mentioning that before the official opening of the CMF laboratory, Florasis had made some achievements in structural innovation. In order to facilitate consumers to make-up with a single hand, Florasis made structural innovation on its air-pressed powder, which not only retains the traditional rotary opening and closing to ensure that the powder will not leak but also embeds a mirror on the powder box cover and adopts the connecting rotating structure. The box cover and box body can naturally present 135 degrees to further optimize the makeup experience. In addition, Florasis is going to focus on the innovative application of new environmental protection materials and Chinese traditional materials in terms of material exploration, processing technology research, and application. It is reported that previously, Florasis has also developed an innovative ceramic lipstick, broadening the application of ceramics in the field of beauty. In terms of color research, it will focus on the relationship between female skin characteristics and the color of make-up, and study the trend and application of color in China. "We are the first brand in China to invest heavily in CMF basic research. Our goal is to create a real trend for ourselves and make suitable oriental cosmetics for Chinese people, rather than allowing Chinese brands to follow the trend led by international brands," said the manager of Yige Industrial Design and CMF R&D center. "Many of today's cosmetics are monopolized in terms of technology and structure. They are just not accessible, just like the chips in mobile phones field." The manager also disclosed that Florasis should study more from Huawei to break through these technologies, pushing back and empowering the industry. At the same time, he further said that CMF's basic research investment will affect Florasis's layout in high-end fields. "CMF is a cutting-edge discipline with strong comprehensiveness. And Florasis will carry out CMF-related work in environmental protection materials, Chinese color trend guidance, and color, and human skin health in the future. Leading the industry trend will conduce to the premium ability for our products."

Tmall, China's leading e-commerce platform, released the "Recovery Plan for the Vitality of the Beauty Industry", and launched five measures, including the support plan, the establishment of a full link incubation mechanism for new brands, and strong support for store self-broadcasting, to support industry innovation in new ingredients, new categories, new brands, new content and new channels. Recently, Taobao Tmall, China's mainstream e-commerce platform, released the  "Recovery Plan for the Vitality of the Beauty Industry" at the first online summit of CBE (China Beauty Expo), and launched five measures in new ingredients, new categories, new brands, new content and new channels to support the innovation of China's beauty industry. During the epidemic, many beauty merchants are facing the supply interruption of overseas raw materials. In order to support the research and development of local raw materials and formulas of Chinese beauty brands, Taobao Tmall's "Recovery Plan for the Vitality of the Beauty Industry" launched the annual support plan of "Chinese ingredients". Raw materials are the core of cosmetics, while the core raw materials of cosmetics are the "chip" of the cosmetics industry. "We will work with brand merchants to create 'Chinese ingredients' and promote local cosmetics enterprises to improve their scientific and technological power and innovation," said Yi Fang, head of Tmall Beauty's domestic products business. Yifang pointed out that "Chinese ingredients" is not only the renewal of product packaging and appearance value, but also the innovation of raw materials of Chinese origin, technical innovation of formula, innovation of production process and the using feeling of consumers as well. In order to seize the new trend and new business opportunities of effective skin care, we have to develop new products and create hot products, to promote Chinese beauty to reduce costs, improving product quality while winning more consumers' love. Over the past year, Chinese beauty brands such as Pechoin, Pien Tze Huang and Ma Yinglong have achieved rapid performance growth and brand renewal through the layout of effective products. Winona, who focuses on the sensitive skin, was again one of the top 10 international brands of Tmall beauty brand in terms of turnover last year, standing side by side with international brands on Tmall “618” and “Double 11”. During the Promotion period of  “3.8” , 2022, the live broadcast room of Estee Lauder's official flagship store on Tmall once again exceeded 100 million yuan (more than $0.15 million). And the self broadcasting room of hundreds of beauty brands achieved rapid growth, of which the turnover of 9 brands increased by more than 10 times, including Chinese cutting-edge beauty brands such as QuadHA, Timage, Amiro, Sky Tree and Into You. According to the "Recovery Plan for the Vitality of the Beauty Industry", Tmall will continue to upgrade its category support plan this year, publish trend white papers, establish group standards, and promote the planning and standardized development of the industry. In addition, there is a special measure for new brands: Establishing a full link incubation mechanism to provide support for traffic, activities, new product research and development, user operation, brand IP building and other services according to different growth stages of the brand, as well as services such as customer counseling, face-to-face diagnosis, anchor selection meeting, inclination of ecological resources and so on. At the same time, the “Plan" will also promote the integration of online and offline channels, help offline cosmetics stores to get in touch with the Internet and transform further, and help online brands to lay out offline channels and improve the ability to resist risks. After the outbreak of the epidemic in Shanghai, the growth of department store channels in Tmall has brought new opportunities to businesses. For example, LAMER urgently transferred goods from Shanghai warehouse to Zhejiang Haining warehouse of Intime Department Store, realizing the normal sales through offline channels and saving  its precious business opportunities.

The China International Import Expo (CIIE) is the world's first import-themed national exhibition. It is a major decision made by China to promote a new round of high-level opening-up as well as a major measure implemented by China to take the initiative to open its market to the world. The 4th CIIE covered a total area of 366 thousand square meters, attracting more than 80% of the world's top 500 enterprises and leading enterprises in the industry, and more than 2,900 enterprise exhibitors. The annual transaction value reached US $70.72 billion. It is reported that the 5th CIIE is expected be held in China National Convention and Exhibition Center (Shanghai) from November 5 to 10, 2022 BST.And relevant supporting activities of it will be accepted From May 16, 2022 BST. From 14:00 to 15:00, on May 18 BST, the "CIIE Enterprise Alliance Online Meeting in 2022" hosted by CIIE and organized by L'Oreal Group will be presented in the form of live video. The agenda is as follows:

Shiseido Company developed "Shape-Shifting HA Technology" that controls the volume of hyaluronic acid (HA) to shrink hyaluronic acid and increase its penetration into the stratum corneum. Moreover, China boasts the world's largest manufacturer of hyaluronic acid---Freda Pharmaceutical Group. Shiseido Company, Limited ("Shiseido") released news that it developed "Shape-Shifting HA Technology" that controls the volume of hyaluronic acid (HA). HA forms a water retention film on the skin surface and exerts a high moisturizing effect, but at the same time, it's very large molecular size hinders penetration into the stratum corneum after application. With the new technology, HA shrinks via the addition of magnesium ions (Mg ions) and dramatically increases its penetration into the stratum corneum compared to normal HA. In addition, this technology re-expands the shrunken HA ("Compact HA") via the addition of sodium metaphosphate, a type of chelating agent, resulting in the restoration of the original properties of HA and increasing the water content in the stratum corneum. Some of these research results were presented at the 142nd Annual Meeting of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan on March 26, 2022. Shiseido has been conducting this research under the Inside/Outside approach of our R＆D philosophy "DYNAMIC HARMONY". We aim to realize soft and dewy skin through the application of the Shape-Shifting HA Technology, the most advanced technology that controls the volume of high molecular HA to enhance its penetration and function in the stratum corneum. HA is a biopolymer with excellent water retention capacity and known to indicate various biological activities other than moisturizing the skin. Since the amount of HA in the epidermis decreases with age, it is important to deliver HA to the inner skin to maintain healthy skin. However, given that HA is large in molecular weight and the stratum corneum acts as a strong barrier, it was extremely difficult to make HA penetrate the skin. In addition, HA injections in cosmetic medicine, which deliver HA into the subcutaneous tissue directly as an invasive procedure, still pose the challenge of not applying to the entire face. To shrink hyaluronic acid and increase its penetration into the stratum corneum, it added various salts to aqueous HA solutions and measured their penetration amount into the stratum corneum. The results showed that the addition of magnesium chloride (MgCl2) increased the amount of HA that penetrated the stratum corneum. Next, after having applied the HA labeled with green fluorescence onto the skin surface and observed cross sections with a fluorescence microscope, it successfully visualized that more HA had reached the deeper layer of the stratum corneum via the addition of MgCl2, compared to a HA solution without MgCl2. Shiseido has further deepened the research on HA, a skin moisturizing component, and succeeded in developing an innovative technology that controls its volume, and enhances its penetration into the stratum corneum, and its functionality. It will continue to utilize this technology to address a wide range of skin concerns as our key technology for future beauty care solutions. It is worth mentioning that the world's largest manufacturer of hyaluronic acid raw materials is Freda Pharmaceutical Group from China. After more than three decades of development, China has become not only a big but strong country in producing hyaluronic acid raw materials. According to a market research report on China's hyaluronic acid industry released by Sullivan, the total sales of hyaluronic acid raw materials in China accounted for 86% of the total global sales in 2018, and hyaluronic acid companies led by five major companies, including Shandong Focus Freda, monopolize most of the production of hyaluronic acid in the country. According to the financial report of Lushang Development, the parent company of Freda, its Shandong Freda Bio Co., Ltd (hereinafter referred to as Freda Bio Co.), which is responsible for the research, development, production, and sales of cosmetic-related products, had a cosmetic operating income of 622 million yuan($92 million) in the first half of 2021, an increase of 210.30% year-on-year. It is reported that the brand of "Dr. Alva", which was founded in 2018, created a myth from 0 to 100 million in that year. It took only 22 minutes for Dr. Alva's Tmall flagship store to break through nearly 10 million yuan in the "Double 11"(Chinese Shopping Carnival) in 2020 and it was ranked at the TOP5 in the Double 11 brand soaring list, becoming the "star" among the new national products. Moreover, Rellet, one of Freda's brands, also has an outstanding performance. Based on big data analysis, it was found that consumers have a lot of demands for skin hydration, which need a better moisturizing effect and expect more convenient use scenarios. Combined with the company's pioneering advantage and technology accumulation in the field of hyaluronic acid technology, Rellet took the lead in launching hyaluronic acid hydration spray, which has accumulated sales of more than 10 million bottles and has long occupied the TOP 1 in the same category across the Internet.

The Estée Lauder Companies designated Karen Housman as Senior Vice President/General Manager Travel Retail Asia Pacific to drive growth and profitability within ELC's travel retail business across the Asia Pacific. The travel retail market in the Asia Pacific, particularly in Hainan, China, performed well in the first two months of this year. The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) stated that it has appointed Karen Housman as Senior Vice President/General Manager Travel Retail Asia Pacific, effective 1 July. Housman will report directly to The Estée Lauder Companies President, Commercial Travel Retail Worldwide Javier Simon. She will be based in Singapore. Housman joined the ELC Travel Retail team in 2017. She is currently a member of the Travel Retail Leadership Team and was most recently La Mer and Le Labo Senior Vice President/General Manager Travel Retail Worldwide. Her responsibilities will include driving growth and profitability within ELC's travel retail business across the Asia Pacific, building on the company's Asian consumer retailer relationships. She will oversee a portfolio of brands as well as a team of change agents to build on and capture new opportunities within the region while delivering best-in-class consumer experiences. She will also leverage ELC's strong retailer relationships and high brand awareness to drive growth and profitability in the key Asia Pacific region as travel returns. During her most recent role, she helped La Mer reach fourth ranking in the skincare category globally, based in New York. Since joining the company's travel retail division in January 2017, her brand portfolio has undergone considerable acceleration and growth. She also launched niche fragrance brand Le Labo in key locations in the Middle East, North America, Asia Pacific, and the UK travel retail. Thanks to her leadership, Le Labo is currently one of the fastest-growing brands in ELC's travel retail portfolio. Moreover, Housman is a passionate supporter of sustainability, diversity, and inclusion. She is a Sustainability Champion within ELC's Travel Retail Division and has progressed several sustainable projects in the region. Housman was previously Vice President of Marketing at Amorepacific US before joining ELC. In this role, she led the marketing and communication strategies for the Amorepacific, Sulwhasoo, and Laneige brands. Before this, she spent 16 years in Chanel holding various management positions in the US and the Asia Pacific. The Estée Lauder Companies Global President Travel Retail Worldwide Israel Assa commented, "With over 20 years experience in the beauty industry in both travel retail and local markets, her deep knowledge of luxury skincare and fragrance, store design, sales, and marketing, along with her keen understanding of international business and our key Asian consumers, Karen is uniquely positioned to lead Travel Retail's APAC region to continued success," "Karen is a highly respected professional across the beauty industry with a track record of building innovative teams who continually set the bar for excellence," added Simon. "In addition, with her strong retailer relationships and deep understanding of consumer behavior, I look forward to seeing how she will steer the Travel Retail Asia Pacific region to capture the next generation of growth." In Estee Lauder's financial report of Q3 in FY2020, it stated that its global travel retail net sales increased double digits, reflecting continued growth from Asia/Pacific. However, additional travel restrictions late in the third quarter of fiscal 2022 led to reduced travel, particularly to Hainan, China. Although current control for the prevention of pandemics is remained in China, travel retail in Hainan, China still boasts great potential. Customs of Sanya released a news release saying that since the implementation of Hainan's duty-free shopping policy in 2011, the customs have supervised the sales of duty-free products in Sanya City on the outlying islands exceeding $15.523 billion, and the number of shoppers exceeding 17 million. At present, the number of duty-free stores in Sanya has increased from one to four, the duty-free shopping limit has increased from $786 to $15,723 per person, and the number of duty-free goods filed by Customs has exceeded 710,000 pieces. According to statistics, in the first two months of this year, the total sales of Hainan's 10 duty-free stores on the outlying islands exceeded $2.022 billion, an increase of 33% year on year. Among them, duty-free sales amounted to $1.877 billion, up 38% year on year. The number of duty-free shoppers was 2.1266 million, up 36% year-on-year and the number of duty-free purchasing goods was 12.623 million pieces, up 53% year-on-year. In April this year, Tapestry Group, which owns the Coach, Kate Spade, and Stuart Weitzman brands, is all set to place the headquarters for its China travel retail business in Hainan. The president of Tapestry Asia Pacific and CEO of Coach China, Yann Bozec, said: "The Hainan market continues to see vigorous momentum. The launch of our China travel retail headquarters here is an important milestone marking the beginning of our travel retail business in China." Bozec added that he expected to enter "a new chapter of rapid development" by advancing relationships with more retail partners on the island, the number of which has steadily increased.

Ausmetics, an ODM / OEM enterprise of China's mom and child skin care products, together with Vitargent FishQC, established a "scientific and technological health innovation research center" and set up a special testing laboratory. Through the latter's "transgenic mackerel medaka embryo chronic toxicity test", the estrogens toxicity in cosmetics was detected and potential safety risks were found. On May 13, Beijing time, Ausmetics and Vitargent FishQC, established a "scientific and technological health innovation research center" and set up a special testing laboratory, bringing in "transgenic mackerel medaka embryo chronic toxicity test", to test the estrogens toxicity in cosmetics and find the potential safety risks of cosmetics in time. So what exactly are estrogens? What's the harm? Estrogens, which is an estrogen-like substance that acts like estrogen when it enters the body. Estrogen in the normal body can keep the human body healthy, but the extra intake of excessive estrogen will upset this balance, resulting in endocrine imbalance and harm. Estrogen compounds have been proven to cause various diseases, such as cancer, decreased reproductive capacity, nervous system disorders, precocious puberty in children, diabetes, etc; Among them, pregnant women and children are particularly high-risk groups of estrogen-like chronic toxic substances. In cosmetics, such as Paraben preservatives and bisphenol A, which is used to prolong the fragrance in perfume, is similar to estrogen. In addition, some sunscreens, preservatives, essence, fragrances and some "efficacy" raw materials are also estrogen-like, which will disturb the endocrine system and increase the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, infertility and other health risks. Earlier, the baby cream "big head doll " incident officially reported by the health commission of Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province, China was suspected of illegal hormone addition. In 2021, a blogger revealed that a parent used the "Yifuling multi-effect special care bacteriostatic cream" produced by Fujian Ouai baby health care products Co., Ltd. for her child, and the baby girl who was only 5 months old turned into a "big head doll" weighing 22 kg, and had symptoms such as growth retardation, hairiness and swollen face. Parents took the baby to China's authoritative hospital for examination and learned that the baby is most likely due to the use of hormone ointment. At this time, parents suspect that there is a problem with the "yifuling multi-effect special care bacteriostatic cream" used by their daughter. It was revealed that the blogger sent "Yifuling multi-effect special care bacteriostatic cream" and another baby cream "Happy Forest" from the same manufacturer to Chinese professional institutions for testing. The test results contained more than 30 (mg / kg) hormones (clobetasopronate). According to the National Medical Products Administration of China, clobetasopronate belongs to glucocorticoids. Long-term use of products containing glucocorticoids may lead to problems such as facial skin black spots, atrophy and thinning, and hormone-dependent dermatitis. With the occurrence of the "big head doll" and other events, the Chinese and local relevant departments have strictly controlled and severely punished children's cosmetics, and the market has been able to get out of chaos. Today, the implementation of China's "Regulations on the supervision and administration of children's cosmetics" and "Little Golden Shield" has further standardized the market and put a tight spell on the brand. However, it is undeniable that consumers lag behind manufacturers and brands in obtaining, recognizing and understanding information, whether it is new regulations or exclusive marks. Once the wrong cognition is used and magnified by intentional enterprises, it will do harm to the benign development of the market. Therefore, starting from the enterprise itself, only by giving play to the leading role of the brand, doing legal and compliance publicity, and doing a good job in the correct consumer education of new regulations and new things, can we further improve the recognition of the brand in the hearts of consumers and realize the improvement of brand strength. Notes: Ausmetics：Founded in 1998, is now an ODM / OEM enterprise of China's mom and child skin care product.Four major production bases have been established in Australia and China, and cooperative relations have been established with many well-known beauty brands such as ALF, Sangu, etc. Vitargent (International) Biotechnology Limited：Hong Kong Biotechnology testing platform, which was established in 2010, has the world's largest biological toxicity database of daily consumer goods. In 2017, the company launched the world's first consumer product safety and efficacy information platform with biotechnology as the core--" FishQC".

Henkel announced to merge its Laundry & Home Care and Beauty Care units into one business unit, Henkel Consumer Brands to create a multi-category platform with sales of around 10 billion euros(about $10.43 billion). In February this year, Henkel acquired Shiseido's professional hairdressing business in the Asia-Pacific region. Henkel recently announced plans to merge its Laundry & Home Care and Beauty Care units into one business unit, Henkel Consumer Brands, and plans to have the new organization in place by early 2023 at the latest. With the new business unit, Henkel is bringing together its consumer brands and businesses, including many iconic brands such as Schwarzkopf and Persil, as well as its professional hairdressing business. "Despite an exceptionally difficult external environment, we are advancing a clear and targeted growth strategy. As a global market leader, our Adhesive Technologies business unit has a clear focus on future trends such as mobility, connectivity and sustainability, providing innovative solutions for a wide range of key industries. By merging the consumer goods businesses Laundry & Home Care and Beauty Care into Henkel's Consumer Brands unit, we are creating a multi-category platform with sales of around 10 billion euros(about $10.43 billion). Our goal is to establish the Consumer Brands business of the future by early 2023 at the latest. It will provide a broader basis for more consistent optimization of our product portfolio and drive higher business growth and profitability." Carsten Knobel, CEO of Henkel, said. Henkel is focusing on a portfolio of businesses with good growth and profit potential. In addition to the active portfolio management to be completed by the end of 2021, the Consumer Brands business will give the company the opportunity to better capture organic and inorganic growth potential. Further portfolio management measures will include divestment or discontinuation of non-core brands and businesses, as well as acquisitions in categories across the consumer goods sector. The merger is designed to drive growth and profitability in the Consumer Products business and the company. This is also reflected in the new medium- to long-term financial targets set by Henkel: Henkel now expects organic sales growth at the Group level in fiscal 2022 of +3.5 to +5.5 percent (previously: +2.0 to +4.0 percent) and its adjusted return on sales (EBIT margin) is now expected for the Henkel Group in the range of 9.0 to 11.0 percent (previously: 11.5 to 13.5 percent), for Beauty Care in the range of 5.0 to 7.0 percent (previously: 7.5 to 10.0 percent) and for Laundry & Home Care in the range of 7.0 to 9.0 percent (previously: 10.5 to 13.0 percent). By integrating these two business units, Henkel will create greater scale and significant synergies and efficiency gains that will help strengthen the profitability of the business unit. Creating synergies in areas such as administration, distribution, marketing and supply chain, becomes more efficient and agile and helps the company act faster in a volatile environment. The new Consumer Brands business was able to free up resources for greater investments and to target these investments more specifically to enhance strategic capabilities, such as digital R&D, e-commerce capabilities or sustainability programs around recyclable packaging. The integration process and the fact that the new combined division will be led by Wolfgang K%uFnig, currently Executive Vice President of Henkel's Cosmetics/Beauty Products business unit, gives the new Consumer Brands business unit a clearer leadership structure. The new business unit will create a leaner structure, faster decisions and attractive opportunities with joint teams. Formed with an integrated approach for retailers, trade or channel partners across all consumer product categories, with a customer and channel focus. The combined team will focus on advancing the entire consumer goods business, and Henkel will offer better positions and greater opportunities. Carsten Knobel, Henkel's CEO, said, "We are integrating our Consumer Products business to create a strong integrated business unit as a basis for profitable future growth. The integrated Consumer Brands business will bring significant benefits to Henkel, our shareholders, our customers and the teams involved, and will facilitate the active shaping of the future in an ever-changing industry." In fact, Henkel had already invested in this division of its business, Consumer Brands, before that. In February this year, Henkel announced that it had signed an agreement with the Shiseido Group to acquire its professional hairdressing business in the Asia-Pacific region. The deal includes the core brands Sublimic and Primience under the Shiseido Professional license. Carsten Knobel, Henkel's CEO, said: "As an important part of Henkel's targeted growth strategy, the acquisition of market-competitive brands plays a crucial role in actively shaping our business portfolio. This acquisition will take Henkel's professional hairdressing business to a new level of growth. By expanding our professional hairdressing business in the Asia Pacific region, we will become one of the industry leaders in a region with dynamic and future growth potential. "

Botanee Group (BTN), the parent company of Winona, was selected as one of the Top50 emerging companies in the 2022 Chinese Listed Companies by Brand Value. BTN is the only beauty enterprise on the list, while Winona ranks first in the Chinese market of Dermatology grade skin care products. For a long time, Botanee has been carrying out the development strategy of "focusing on the main brand and expanding sub-brands". In 2022, BTN continues to focus on the main brand "Winona" and consolidate its "Anti-Sensitive " series in the leading position of Dermatology grade skin care products in China. "Winona is from Yunnan, China but it also belongs to the world at the same time. China now enjoys the world's largest skincare market, where the world's leading brand is bound to be born." Guo Zhenyu, chairman of BTN, once said. According to the statistics of Euromonitor, a global research organization, Winona ranks first in the Chinese market of dermatological skin care products, and its market share in 2021 was about 2 percentage points higher than that of 2020. What’s more, compared with 2020, Winona's leading advantage over the second and third places continues to expand, with a market share in China that is close to the sum of the second and third brands. The head effect is definitely significant. During the "Double 11 shopping festival" in 2021, Winona ranked TOP6 in the beauty and skincare category and TOP10 consecutively in the beauty and makeup category on Tmall, a mainstream e-commerce platform in China, and was the only Chinese brand on the list. In addition, in 2021, Winona's growth rate on JD.com, another mainstream E-commerce platform in China, has exceeded 30%, ranking the first of Chinese brand in its "601 Good Start" activity and the seventh in the "Double 11" list of beauty brands. In terms of channel layout, Winona mainly promotes its own stores on Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Tmall, Tiktok（Chinese version）, Kwai, and JD.com; In addition, Winona counter service platform and WeChat mini program have been built for diversified online channel coverage. In the offline channel, it also opened a brand store. It is worth mentioning that at the beginning of May this year, Winona officially entered the aesthetic medicine industry. Its medical beauty chain brand "Yanyao Aesthetic Medicine" was officially established and its offline stores were opened also in Shanghai, which focuses on the subdivided field of aesthetic medicine. With the rapid growth of China's cosmetics market and the continuous emergence of Chinese consumers' demand for various market segments, major beauty brands around the world are further increasing their investment in the Chinese market. On the one hand, good news consumption trends continue to promote the rapid rise of China's local beauty brands; On the other hand, international brands that occupy the head of the market are also seeking various ways to maintain their Chinese market status, which inevitably brings dimension reduction to Chinese brands. Under such fierce competition, Winona, a Chinese efficacy skin care brand focusing on sensitive skin, stands out from many major brands. It is reported that in the "Double 11 shopping festival" of 2021, over 400 million bottles of Anti-Sensitive Moisturizing Tolerance-Extreme Cream were sold online in China; Winona Soothing Repairing Freeze-dried Mask became the dark horse of the year with over 200 million boxes sales throughout the Chinese network; Sales volume of Sunblock Milk and Anti-Sensitive Essence individually exceeded 100 million RMB (over 15 million USD) What is behind these glorious data is the embodiment of Winona's achievements in China's efficacy skin care benchmark brand through years of deep cultivation in product power, brand power and R&D power. Today, Winona's accumulation of academic resources and clinical data have formed a highly competitive professional barrier by issuing 15 skin-related medical guidelines and expert consensus, participating in the formulation of 16 group standards, presiding over the formulation of 12 enterprise standards, holding 60 patents and 11 core technologies, and conducting clinical verification and effect observation in the dermatology Department of 63 top hospitals in the world to verify the efficacy and safety of its products. In addition, Winona led the publication of the book "Winona Efficacy Skin Care Clinical Application Essentials", including 128 basic research and clinical verification papers of Winona products published in core journals around the world, the relevant academic results of which have attracted the attention of the global dermatology community. Apart from the concentrated outbreak of sales, and the long-term persistence of scientific research, Winona has been leading the Chinese beauty and skincare category, with rapid growth and multi-category sales. Winona, which has grown into one of China's mainstream brands in just a few years, is releasing a strong brand explosive force.

Nars from Shiseido disclosed the brand's first ever 3D Virtual Animation (VA) 'Nonstop Nars Virtual World' to engage Chinese consumers in the city of Hainan in China. Users can create their own custom Nars Avatar by choosing an outfit, hairstyle, and makeup look. Shiseido Travel Retail has unveiled 'Nonstop Nars Virtual World', the brand's first ever 3D Virtual Animation (VA). And Shiseido Travel Retail has partnered exclusively with China Duty-Free Group (CDFG) for the pre-launch of the Nonstop Nars Virtual World. The launch is supported by online and offline promotions across CDFG's digital platforms and on-counter at the Sanya International Duty-Free Shopping Complex in Haitang Bay. The campaign aims to showcase the art of Nars makeup through gamification elements that are educational, entertaining and exploratory to inspire traveling consumers to discover its travel exclusive products and bestsellers before their trips. Nars Cosmetics is a French cosmetics and skin care company founded by make-up artist and photographer François Nars in 1994. The cosmetics line began with twelve lipsticks sold at Barneys New York. Since then, NARS has created various multi-use beauty products and is now a subsidiary of Shiseido. Nars Cosmetics has its own flagship store on the Chinese e-commerce platform Tmall with a total of 73 SKUs. Its best-selling product is Light Reflecting Setting Powder Pressed priced at 400 yuan(about $58.9) with a monthly sales volume of 2000 units. This product is also well-known among Chinese makeup lovers. In the Chinese sharing platform Xiaohongshu, the Setting Powder was promoted in more than 10 thousand posts. The launch will be further amplified by a rollout of online and offline promotional activities across CDFG's digital platforms and on-counter at Sanya International Duty-Free Shopping Complex, Hainan, later this year. The "Nonstop Nars Virtual World" campaign was designed based on the brand's "It's Nonstop Time" theme. Inspired by an abstract clock, the campaign features striking red and black tones, lighting effects and brand elements that allow customers to create "endless" glittering looks using different Nars products. The campaign will cover digital media, We Media, KOLs, e-commerce and in-store pop-up stores, and will feature a virtual currency, NCOIN, highlighting Nars' best-selling collections and travel-retail exclusives such as the Light Reflecting Setting Powder. Users are invited to register for an account and create their own custom Nars Avatar (Navatar) by choosing an outfit, hairstyle and makeup look. Using the Look Book feature, they can browse a full set of makeup to try on their Navatar and share their final look on WeChat. Following their virtual makeover, users are greeted by their customized Navatar at the Nonstop Hall–the central starting point of the experience where they can navigate to three other experiential zones: Nonstop Community, Nonstop Discovery and Nonstop Play. Each of these 'rooms' features content to encourage self-exploration and gamification to drive interaction. By completing tasks throughout the VA experience (as well as physically in-store), users are rewarded with virtual currency 'Ncoin' which can be used to redeem exclusive GWPs and samples. Previously Charlotte Tilbury unveiled its immersive metaverse shopping experience. Customers can also view immersive, exclusive filmed content, featuring screens that project behind-the-scenes interviews with beauty influencers, as well as live stream masterclasses with Charlotte Tilbury beauty professionals. In addition, founder/CEO Charlotte Tilbury can appear in the metaverse environment as a 3D volumetric avatar. Dina Fierro, vice president of global digital strategy at Nars, says expectations for virtual products must be oriented from the marketing level. Nars has just partnered with Nintendo's Animal Crossing, "but we don't expect these partnerships to drive sales. It's more important to us that these moves reinforce the brand's precise positioning and generate some buzz and new awareness. As an art-driven beauty brand with strong ties to the fashion world, it makes perfect sense for us to release NFTs." Gucci's beauty line and Nars have also partnered last year with a mobile game called Drest, which adds a new beauty mode that allows users to style and dress up for challenges. Lucy Yeomans, the company's CEO, says users can become a creator here. She also said, "I think the demand from the next generation of customers is really to be immersed and to be part of a creative experience. Hands-on experimentation and constant creative discovery are also incredibly important, as they enhance the user's immersion." Judging from the above statements from two beauty company leaders, the current beauty company launches about metaverse, NFT or virtual stores have more promotional significance than sales significance. Buller of FutureLab said "a loyal customer can start with a virtual trial in a game or virtual store. Once they're happy with that, they'll try more things and maybe shop in a brick-and-mortar store." Such initiatives as the launch of virtual worlds by beauty companies should always focus on the overall loyalty of digital users, and brands need to connect with consumers, not just provide them with a one-time consumer experience.

In China, toothpaste is not included in the definition of cosmetics and is only regulated by reference to common-use cosmetics. At present, China's State Administration for Market Regulation is finalizing the "Measures on the Supervision and Administration of Toothpaste". Before the release of the relevant regulations, children's toothpaste according to the existing Chinese toothpaste regulations can continue to sell normally. On May 12, Beijing time, the China Oral Care Industry Association consulted the Department of Cosmetics Supervision and Administration of the National Medical Products Administration of China on the regulation of the sale of children's toothpaste in China, and the National Medical Products Administration of China replied that children's toothpaste could continue to be sold normally before the promulgation of the new regulations. The reply said that, according to China's Regulation on the Supervision and Administration of Cosmetics, the definition of cosmetics does not include toothpaste, which is only managed with reference to common-use cosmetics. The specific reference method is determined by the " Measures on the Supervision and Administration of Toothpaste" promulgated afterwards. Currently, China's State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration is finalizing the "Measures on the Supervision and Administration of Toothpaste", which will be promulgated and implemented as soon as possible. Children's toothpaste with reference to the "supervision and management of children's cosmetics" management of the specific details will be clarified in the "supervision and management of toothpaste" and its supporting regulations, its regulatory work in accordance with the "supervision and management of toothpaste" and supporting regulations promulgated thereafter. Before the release of the relevant regulations, children's toothpaste according to the existing toothpaste regulations can continue to sell normally. After the implementation of the new regulations on toothpaste, whether the former toothpaste products can be sold and the transition period is still a problem. Staff from the China Oral Care Industry Association revealed that "new products should be in line with the new regulations, the former products will be provided a transition period." She also stressed that documents released by China's National Medical Products Administration to shall be prevailed. Several Chinese industry insiders, on the other hand, analyzed that a transition period will be set. "Children's products will use the strictest means, even if there is a transition period will be very short", a senior person predicted. Today, China's adult toothpaste market has reached 98% penetration rate. The market is big but has been divided by many brands almost so the competition is extremely fierce. However, as a toothpaste market segment of children's toothpaste potential is huge. According to the scale of China's oral market and the number of visits to the data measured from 2015-2019, China's per capita oral consumption from $91 to $133, per capita oral consumption to maintain an average annual growth of 10%. With the full implement of China's three-child policy, the demand for China's children's oral care market will be triggered. According to the data released by the Qianzhan Research Institute, China's children's oral health market covering children's oral care, prevention and treatment is expected to exceed $73.5 billion. The above positive signals stimulate the booming development of the whole children's oral care market in China, and there are more and more entrants in the children's oral care category. A search on the Chinese e-commerce platform Tmall using the term "children's toothpaste" shows brands such as Sakykids, Colgate, Yunnan Baiyao, CNICE Ya Ya Le, Oral B, Frog Prince and Lion. Among them, the TOP 3 brands in the hot selling list are: Jordan, Dexter, and babycare. Because the oral form of children is different from that of adults, the function of children's toothpaste must also be different from that of adult toothpaste. In the current Chinese market, the children's toothpaste represented by Sakykids, Yunnan Baiyao, CNICE Ya Ya Le, etc., which mainly focus on the efficacy of anti-cavity, anti-sensitivity, etc., and target to solve the most troubling parents and babies' tooth decay problems. Data showed that children's toothpaste with anti-cavity and dental care effects currently occupies up to 68% of the market share. Senior Chinese industry insiders said, "Despite the rapid development of oral health awareness and consumer market in mainland China in the past 10 years, there is still a huge gap compared with developed countries such as Europe, America, Japan and Korea." This illustrates that, compared with the rate of children's oral caries in developed countries, the treatment rate, the scale of oral products categories, more can foresee the vast blue ocean of China's children's oral health market in the future.

Recently, Medical Products Administration in Hubei, Chongqing and other places released their annual reports on cosmetic adverse reaction monitoring in 2021, with the number of reports increasing by up to 70% year-on-year and the sources of reports gradually diversifying. It is clear that the monitoring of adverse reactions has become an important part of cosmetic regulation in China, and the attitude of cosmetic companies of "sitting it out" about adverse reactions is going to become a thing of the past. According to the Annual Report on Cosmetic Adverse Reaction Monitoring (2021) recently released by the China Hubei Provincial Medical Products Administration, the province a total of 8,039 Cosmetic Adverse Reaction/Event Report Forms were received in FY 2021 in Hubei Province, an increase of 70% compared to FY 2020, of which 8,036 were general reports and 3 were serious reports. Since 2016, the number of reports has always been on an incremental trend, with a 19-time increase in six years. Meanwhile, the Annual Report on the Monitoring of Adverse Cosmetic Reactions in Chongqing in 2021, released by the Chongqing Municipal Medical Products Administration of China, showed that 5,050 reports were received during the period, an increase of 10.41% year-on-year, including 2 serious reports with an average of 158 reports per million population. In addition, the report also reminded consumers of the need for caution when purchasing cosmetics online, the high risk of cosmetic acne caused by sunscreen products and the ease of confusion between some children's cosmetics and disinfection products. Adverse reactions to cosmetics refer to the normal use of cosmetics caused by the lesions of the skin and its appendages, as well as local or systemic damage to the human body. Adverse reactions to cosmetics are reported by medical institutions, business units, manufacturing companies and individuals. In February this year, China's National Medical Products Administration issued Measures for the Monitoring of Adverse Cosmetic Reactions (hereinafter referred to as the Measures), which will be implemented in October this year. In the actual monitoring, the Measures clearly state that cosmetic adverse reaction reports follow the principle of "any suspicion should be reported", and that any suspected human damage related to the use of cosmetics should be reported. It is worth noting that the Measures also mention that other units and individuals can report adverse cosmetic reactions to the cosmetic registrant, the filer, and the person responsible for the territory, but also to the Chinese local city and county monitoring agencies or city and county-level regulatory departments. In other words, according to the Measures, consumers can also report the phenomenon of adverse reactions directly to monitoring agencies and regulatory authorities at all levels in China, and companies must report or analyze and evaluate the adverse reactions within a specified period of time according to the extent of the adverse reactions. The number of adverse reaction reports has increased significantly in recent years and has become an important basis for supervision and inspection by the Chinese regulatory authorities, so it is clear that cosmetic companies cannot continue to "sit it out" but must take responsibility for establishing a cosmetic adverse reaction monitoring and evaluation system. And, with less than five months to go before the official implementation of the Measures issued by the National Medical Products Administration of China. When the new adverse reaction monitoring system comes to be effective, it means that companies need to increase their monitoring efforts in terms of adverse reactions including arranging for commissioners to collect and register information on adverse reactions, setting up adverse reactions monitoring teams and reporting them in a timely manner. Otherwise, they will be punished in accordance with the Regulation on the Supervision and Administration of Cosmetics. It is worth mentioning that on May 11, China's National Medical Products Administration released the 14th Five-Year Plan on Drug Regulatory Network Security and Information Technology Construction also mentioned that it should continue to improve adverse reaction monitoring and other business systems in strengthening cosmetics regulatory capacity.