MILAN, May 16 (Class Editori) – According to Tmall, there are 220 million people in China between 20 and 35 years of age, and these section of the population alone managed to spend around 518 billion rmb (around 67.3 billion euro) in beauty products in 2018 – a strong +7% against 2017 results. Adding that Morgan Stanley came to define China as the world’s biggest market for beauty, Reuters Communications started from here and released the research: "The New Face of Beauty in China," taking on the state of this sector's play in China.
The results are anything but what one could have expected. First of all, along the Shanghai-Beijing-Guangzhou axis – where the analysis was performed – influencers are not the first source of inspiration for consumers. Despite gathering a good 65% share of the consensus, internet stars falls right behind the trusted advice friends can give, achieving four percentage points more (69%). And that’s not all. Actually, opinion leaders lose much of their influence when it comes to the moment of the purchase, since only 7% of women and 17% of men eventually decide to follow their advice. And where influencer cannot go, advertisement cannot certainly follow – only 4% of women and 17% of men fall for any important publicity campaign.
It makes for a sort of paradigm subversion, in particular since the internet cannot seem to hit the big time even through e-commerce – the physical store remains a strong and essential presence, since it grants certain added values like the proof of authenticity (not so protected on the Chinese web), as well as the chance of trying before buying, and a much broader and readily available choice of products.
This new spring of Chinese beauty is taking big brands by storm as well, as 20-35 years old buyers have started going by the concept of "niche". Truly, the trust plus quality combination – with a nice packaging on top – remains a prerogative of the bigger and more famous brands (86% of women and 89% of men). Yet most consumers have their curiosity piqued by outsiders (85% of women and 70% of men), which have already managed to swipe the men’s market off its feet (92%), having them growing devoted to independent brands.
The building block of these results is perception. Consumers share a vision of smaller brands associated with less expenditures in advertisement and packaging and with more in research and development, resulting in more specialized and effective products.
Finally, the organic segment. In the midst of a flurry for everything environmentally-sustainable, 84% of men and 77% of women are now ready to spend more for buying products made with organic ingredients. While it is true that the trend has been recorded through random sample analysis, Reuters Communications – in collaboration with ColourData – has also monitored two of the most important e-commerce platform in China, Weibo and Xiaohongshu, looking for confirmation. The results show that the organic component plays an 88% part in beauty products purchases, in particular for face masks, perfumes, and facial treatments.
(Source:Class Editori)
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