Chinese Cosmetics Market: An Overview For The Unfamiliar

Where would you look if wanted to know more about cosmetics and the Chinese youth? Why the mall of course! We popped down to our local Parkson and had a nose around to see what was on offer. Here’s what we found…

One floor of the mall presents a wealth of brands, European, American, Korean, Japanese and Chinese are all in the mix; for the unaware they are not always easy to separate. European brands, such as Lancome and Estée Lauder, play on their heritage and project an air of wealth and elegance. Japanese brands such as Kanebo and Shishedo, rely on their Japanese aesthitic of quality and a refined nature, whilst American brands, MAC and Benefit, push a more sexy and playful image. Korean and Chinese brands are some what caught in between, but tend to fall toward a sub-European and Japanese aesthetic of natural elegance, particularly Shanghai brand 佰草集 (Herborist), whose use of natural products is perhaps directly influenced by traditional Chinese medicine.

The range of products is utterly overwhelming, the bigger brands break up their skin care section (far and away the largest product catergory in cosmetics) into at least four caterogies of hydration, revitalization , uv protection and whitening. Each of these categories contains products that link to each other and are to be purchased in conjunction with each other.

Interesting to note is the possible growth area of male cosmetics. Some stores such as L’oreal had male products as a small after thought to the larger female section, but brands such as Clarins and particualry Biotherm are now pushing hard to target a skin conscious male market. Biotherm was the only store with a male assisstant and devoted a whole wall to male products. They have also recruited Japanese hearthrob actor Takeshi Kaneshiro to be the face of their campaign.

Aside from the wealth of cream, lotions, oils and facepacks lay a few innovative products. Japanese brand, Fancl, offers a range of skin care products which instead of being spread on the outside are instead ingested, playing well into the Chinese phrase: “以内养外” (the outside is cultivated from within). Similar to this, albeit with a slightly less natural feel, American brand H2O plus offers a skin enhancing drink, “Collagen 8000”, containing seawater, vitamins B6 and C and yes…collagen.

The store sales staff are not just window dressing for the product, their knowledge and customer intreraction at POS is vital to ensuring a good customer experience in a highly, highly competitive market. Many brands offer product literature which shows a complete range of product offerings and product information. But as is often the case, the samples and product information provided by these brands often make it easier for consumers to head online and purchase these products.