What Kind of Clean Beauty Brands Do Chinese Consumers Prefer?

Since 2010, the popularity and controversy of "clean beauty" in Europe and the United States has been pretty hot. Also, in China's competitive beauty consumer market, many "clean beauty" products stand out and become popular. However, according to a Qeyes survey, when asked about the concept of "clean beauty", most Chinese beauty consumers respondents said that they had no idea.

---

Compared with the recognition of the concept of "clean beauty", these products are more accepted and welcomed by Chinese consumers because of their efficacy. Although there is little connection between products and concepts, everyone's attitude towards beauty products is becoming more and more rational, and the pursuit of clean and effective product ingredients coincides with the concept of "clean beauty".

Products and concepts are popular separately

The concept of "clean beauty" appeared before products. In 2000, in order to meet the special skin care needs of pregnant women, the first "clean beauty" brand Ren (Swedish meaning "pure") was born. With the continuous maturity of "clean beauty" in the European and American markets, many brands have made many good products relying on the concept of growth, and many products are popular in China, such as the American brand Farmacy Green Clean makeup meltaway cleansing balm and the Japanese brand Tatcha moisturizing face cream, which have been recommended by many beauty influencers on Chinese social platforms and received positive comments from users.

So Chinese consumers are familiar with products, but unfamiliar with concepts. In the process of understanding these star "clean beauty" products, Chinese consumers may have heard "natural ingredients", "environment-friendly" and other introductions related to the concept of "clean beauty", but they will not connect these labels with the concept of "clean beauty", or they are not closely related. These labels are not as compelling as positive reviews from in-person users to make a purchasing decision.

According to the Qeyes survey, 70% of the respondents said they had no idea about it, of which more than 50% of the respondents have only heard of it. Among the respondents who knew about "clean beauty", many only knew a little bit. Different from consumers who have witnessed the whole process of the continuous maturity of concepts and products in the European and American markets, Chinese consumers only regard "clean beauty" as a rarely known foreign concept that has just been introduced. This leads to the situation where products and concepts are fighting separately. If they want to gradually recognize, understand and agree with this new concept, they still need to invest a lot of energy in publicity and promotion. If you want Chinese consumers to gradually recognize, understand and even agree with this new concept, a lot of efforts needs to be invested in the publicity and promotion.

Chinese consumers are more concerned with the functional value of clean beauty

In Europe and the United States, for users who agree with the concept of "pure beauty", it has been integrated into people's lives as a non-toxic, harmless and environmentally friendly way of life. The introduction to TikTok's recent hot topic "Clean Beauty" wrote, "We want to see everything clean and conscious." Videos with the "Clean Beauty" label are also often associated with morning routines, extremes simple skin care and efficient makeup, highlighting simple and natural living conditions.

According to a survey by Qeyes, 90% of the Chinese users of "clean beauty" are ingredient-centric. They pursue product safety and effectiveness rather than the concept itself.

Farmacy, one of the representative brands of "clean beauty", has become famous since the beginning of its presence in China, and in 2021, its Green Clean makeup meltaway cleansing balm won the top sales of the "Double 11" imported makeup remover category. It has become a veritable explosion, but few Chinese consumers know that the niche skin care brand Farmacy gained its firm position in the global beauty market because of its implementation of the concept of "clean beauty".

Not only Farmacy, in China, "clean beauty" brand will face difficulties in gaining a large number of loyal fans due to the brand concept. Consumers will still evaluate individual products of the brand according to more practical standards such as cost performance, sense of use and efficacy.

Huge growth potential of clean beauty in China

At this stage, the concept of "pure beauty" has not penetrated into the hearts of Chinese consumers, but Qeyes survey shows that more than 80% of the respondents believe that "pure beauty" still needs to be promoted in the domestic market. At the same time, the increasingly rational attitude of Chinese consumers towards beauty products also led respondents to say that the premise of accepting promotion is still to ensure that the products are safe and effective.

It is worth mentioning that, according to the relevant data of CBNData, in China, the Z generation who have become the main consumers have shown obvious consumption preferences for natural plant extracts, among which Chinese herbal ingredients are more popular with Generation Z. The concept of "clean beauty" has gradually sprouted in the hearts of young people.

Domestic brands have also seen the growing clean beauty market. In order to let more consumers know about pure beauty, in January this year, My ClorisLand, which is positioned as oriental clean beauty, released "Clean Beauty Green Paper", which is a step towards the formulation of domestic clean beauty standards, which is of great significance to the understanding and exploration of domestic pure beauty.

With the gradual acceptance of the concept of clean beauty by Chinese consumers and a more active willingness to consume related products, some domestic brands have grown rapidly. At the beginning of 2021, China's clean beauty brand Dewy Lab launched its first batch of products. Since then, the brand has completed three rounds of financing within more than a year, and announced the completion of ten million dollar pre-A round of financing on February 22 this year. At present, Dewy Lab has gained a group of loyal users mainly women aged 25-35. According to statistics, by the end of 2021, per customer transaction of Dewy Lab has exceeded 200 yuan( about $29.98 ), which is higher than that of mass cosmetics brands.