China’s Cosmetic Market: Latest Data, Dominant Brands & Winning Strategies
*(Sourced from CBNData, iiMedia, Tmall Beauty Reports 2025, Analyzed by GMA)*
China’s Internet Cosmetic Market: 2024 Snapshot
- Market Size: ¥485 billion ($68B USD), growing at 8.4% CAGR.
- Online Penetration: 42% of total beauty sales (vs. 28% globally).
- Key Drivers: Gen-Z (58% of buyers), livestream commerce, and guochao (national pride) trends.
- Regulatory Shift: 2023 “Clean Beauty” standards tightened for ingredients like parabens and sulfates.
Top 5 Dominant Brands in China
- Florasis (花西子)
- Niche: Luxury guochao makeup with ancient Chinese art-inspired packaging.
- 2023 Revenue: ¥5.8B ($800M), +22% YoY.
- Winona (薇诺娜)
- Niche: Dermatologist-backed skincare for sensitive skin.
- Edge: #1 medical beauty brand on Tmall; 30% market share in derma-cosmetics.
- Proya (珀莱雅)
- Niche: Anti-aging serums (e.g., “Ruby” line with 10% sales growth QoQ).
- Growth: Stock price surged 120% in 2023.
- Perfect Diary (完美日记)
- Niche: Fast-fashion makeup with 500+ SKUs; Gen-Z favorite.
- Tactics: Douyin KOL collabs drove 40M monthly GMV.
- Chando (自然堂)
- Niche: Heritage brand leveraging Himalayan ingredients.
- Innovation: Launched AI skin diagnostic tool on WeChat (2M+ users).
5 Data-Backed Marketing Strategies for Online Success
- Livestream Gamification
- Taobao Live sellers using “limited-time flash deals + lucky draws” see 3x conversion vs. static ads.
- Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) Seed Marketing
- 70% of users discover beauty products via KOC reviews; brands like Dr. Ci:Labo boosted sales 200% with “skin diary” UGC campaigns.
- Guochao Product Storytelling
- Florasis’s “Oriental Carving Lipstick” (inspired by Song Dynasty art) sold 200K units in 1 hour during 618 Festival.
- Douyin (TikTok) Shop-and-Entertain
- Short videos with “Get Ready With Me” tutorials + in-app purchases drive 50% higher CTR than Instagram Reels.
- Cross-Border E-Commerce Alliances
- Partner with Tmall Global or JD Worldwide to bypass animal testing laws; 80% of imported Korean/Japanese brands use this route.
10 Best-Selling Cosmetic Products in China (2025)
- Florasis – Yunjian Light Feather Loose Powder (¥189, 10M+ sold)
- Winona – Sensitive Skin Repair Serum (¥288, 8.5M units)
- Proya – Double-Anti (Anti-Aging + Anti-Oxidant) Ruby Essence (¥249)
- Perfect Diary – Animal Eyeshadow Palettes (¥129, 5M+ palettes)
- Chando – Himalayan Glacier Water Cream (¥168)
- Kans – Centella Asiatica Sheet Masks (¥99/box, 12M boxes)
- HBN – AA Luminous Essence (Alpha-Arbutin for brightening, ¥199)
- Colorkey – AirLip Velvet Lip Gloss (¥69, 15M+ units)
- Biohyalux – Hyaluronic Acid Sunscreen (SPF50+, ¥158)
- Pechoin – Ginseng Revitalize Cream (¥320, luxury anti-aging hit)
Emerging Trends:
- “Milk Tea Skincare” (sugar-based exfoliants)
- Probiotic Beauty (3x growth in 2023)
- Men’s Grooming (+25% YoY; L’Oréal Men Expert leads).
GMA’s Playbook for Market Entry
- Phase 1: Test guochao designs via Tmall Global with KOC seeding.
- Phase 2: Hijack festivals (618, Singles’ Day) with livestream blitzes.
- Phase 3: Localize R&D (e.g., tremella mushroom or tea oil formulations).
*China’s beauty arena is a blend of hyper-speed trends and deep-rooted culture. Miss the cultural codes, and you’ll drown in the ¥485B ocean.*
Sources: Tmall 618 Shopping Festival Report 2023, iiMedia “China Beauty Tech Trends”, CBNData “Gen-Z Beauty Consumption Insights”.
GMA: 12 years in China, 200+ beauty campaigns executed. Let’s make your brand the next Florasis. 🎯
With its increasing popularity, e-commerce platforms help cosmetic companies to increase their sales in China.
These past few years,economic growth, urban development and the rise of middle and upper class have caused major changes in the Chinese society.Of course, the beauty industry has not been spared by theses deep changes that translated into new ways of purchasing cosmetics. We are talking about online purchases, a key component of any strategy to increase your sales in China these days.
According to the “Beauty Retailing Throug Direct Sales in Emerging markets” report, the enormous growth of cosmetic’s e-commerce is also due to the online shops known as “e-malls”.
The main e-commerce sites in China to purchase beauty are Tmall, Jumei and JD.com representing 83.3% of the total value of the cosmetic online market.
As reported by Karen Doskow, the boom of those e-commerce platforms will still increase thanks to the better socio-economic status of Chinese consumers and the convenience and big number of choices that shoppers can find through those platforms.
The e-commerce channels in China allow users to purchase a huge variety of local or foreign products from a unique platform.
According to Euromonitor, during the last few years, online cosmetics sales have grown while sales through physical stores have decreased because via online purchases, consumer have access to more products available. Indeed, Chinese customers like to visit retail shops, to try cosmetics before going back home and buy them online on Tmall and the like.
The report also denoted that e-commerce platforms can not offer person-to-person sales, something that is very valued by buyers, nonetheless e-commerce sites are solving this lack through consultants who work on behalf of marketers or brands in order to provide to consumers the personal communication they are looking for.
Since the market has already been growing for a few years, a large number of Western brands have entered the market and try to take over the market.
However it is not as easy as it seems, many Western cosmetics brands have yet to fully grasp the market trend and how Chinese customer react in order to craft a proper strategy.
We can do that for you. With our extensive knowledge of the market and understanding of the Chinese customers’mind we can help you increase your sales in China. Contact us for more information about our services and our expertise in cosmetics
If you want to stay in touch with our latest news about cosmetics in China, go here
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4 comments
Hannah_:)
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