The men’s beauty market in China looks to be more promising than in many other parts of the world, according to new research from Kantar Worldpanel.

The new study, analyzing the behavior and attitudes of 22,000 men across eight countries, finds that globally, 32% of men say that it’s important to keep up with the latest fashion. This rises to 45% among Chinese men, who are also more interested in trying to look and stay young than average.

They are less willing to spend time on themselves, with only 8% saying they do so, far behind the global average of 29%.

Ashley Kang, Beauty sector Head for Asia at Kantar, said: “Chinese men have the interest but haven’t yet developed the habit of pampering themselves nor the knowledge of how to.”

Kantar Worldpanel’s usage care panel data shows that the products used by the most consumers in China are hygiene products like shampoo (used by 99% of men), toothpaste (100%), shower gel (74%), and razors (both manual and electric) 88%.

Ashley continues: “For the average Chinese man, grooming is strongly linked to staying clean and looking at his best in his natural state. This indicates there is an opportunity for growth through education and endorsement of various products. For example, products like fragrances or pre-shave treatments which are used respectively by 26% and 38% of men globally, are all below 5% in usage in China, almost non-existent.”

However, there is a group of Chinese men who have adopted more sophisticated grooming habits. This is particularly evident in facial care, with more Chinese men using facial moisturizer than in any other country (64% compared with a 10% global average) and face wash (63% compared with 25% globally).

Chinese men are showing greater concern around uneven skin coloring and sagging skin than the global men on average,” Ashley continues. “Given this tendency, we expect to see new products coming to market which meets functional needs such as anti-aging or whitening.

Brands should start with hygienic products and focus more on facial care than hair or body to win Chinese men. Products which are more functional tend to be unisex than male-specific, indicating that there is a growing market for this more sophisticated group which has not been fully catered to”.

Promising global picture

The number of men who say they like to spend lots on beauty products has risen worldwide from 17% in 2015 to 21% today. In addition, heavily involved men – defined as the 20% most engaged users of personal care products – are 4 percentage points more likely to say that they do whatever they can to look young, 3 percentage points more likely to spend lots on beauty products and 3 percentage points more likely to buy the latest brands and products.

Ashley continues: “Globally, it’s a promising picture for beauty brands and manufacturers. Men are increasingly comfortable buying, using and enjoying grooming and care products and they’re developing a better knowledge of what’s on the shelves.

“In China, there are two distinct groups, those who are very involved and interested in pampering themselves and willing to invest their money and time and others who just are not convinced of the need for personal care products in their lives. Brands need to decide which target consumer to address. It’s not possible to meet everyone’s needs – the gap between the two is too great.”

“If you choose to go with the unconvinced group, ensure simplicity and convenience is there. Don’t make them think twice and try to build your brand into their daily habits. Should you choose to address the more sophisticated consumers, beware that the ‘macho’ aesthetic will not resonate in Asia. We’re seeing a more ‘genderless’ version of masculinity in the media and even in our everyday lives.”

Looking across the countries included in the study, the research shows Brazilian men leading the charge when it comes to grooming, being 87% more likely than the global average to experiment with facial hair, 61% more likely to buy the latest brands and products, and 36% more likely to say that their looks are important to them.

This correlates with a more self-critical approach to personal beauty, with Brazilian men reporting far higher levels of concern around conditions like acne and greasy skin than average.

The search for eternal youth

There’s a recognizable disparity in how much men around the world care about aging, with British men the least concerned. Less than a quarter (23%) say they are bothered about looking young, in comparison to 58% of Chinese men and half of the Italian men.

Ashley explains: “In China, looking young is an indicator of a balanced and healthy life. Chinese people firmly believe that beauty comes from within and that unless you have well-balanced health, it is difficult to achieve a good look on the surface.”

While German men rank among the bottom four when it comes to the importance of looks and having a youthful appearance, they are considerably more likely to be found splurging on their personal care routines – 68% say they like to spend lots on beauty products versus a global average of 21%.

And, despite being known for their cultures of personal care, American and French men are the least likely to want to splurge, with only 10% and 11% of men pointing to a high level of personal care spending – suggesting they view personal care, not as a necessary expenditure rather than a nice-to-have.

Download: Men Beauty Report China 2019

Originally published on Kantar.com

China retail market of cosmetics product was RMB333.86 billion (USD54.32 billion) in 2013 and it is estimated to reach over RMB700 billion (USD113.9 billion) in 2017 according to iResearch.

Chinese cosmetics retail value was RMB333.86 billion (USD54.32 billion) in 2013 and it is estimated to reach over RMB700 billion (USD113.9 billion) in 2017 with annual growth rate of 20.8%. iResearch believes that the reasons for stable growth are well-developing online shopping market and established flagship stores for cosmetics brands online, which have strengthened consumers’ trust to online shopping in cosmetics products.

Total value of cosmetics online was RMB8.35 billion (USD1.35 billion) in April 2014, with C2C platforms accounting for 63.0% (USD856.1 million), and B2C platform accounting for 37.0% (USD502.9 million).

On B2C platform, Tmall, Jumei and JD.com are top three ones in online cosmetics market with value USD218.1 million, 91.2 million, 42.3 million respectively, which accounted for 83.3% of the total value in April 2014 in China.

Counting the volume or value of China online cosmetics sales, skin care is the major category in online cosmetics market, accounting for almost two-thirds, followed by make-up products with more than 20%.

Mask and face cream with per customer transaction USD13.6 and 21.7 respectively, are the best sellers among skin care cosmetics on B2C platform in April 2014. iResearch analyzed that since face is the most important part of the body skin, people use facial mask and cream more frequently; and the price of facial mask and cream online has little difference with price on traditional market, so consumers can make use of online market’s advantage.

Cosmetics products with RMB50-100 range was the best seller, accounting for 33.7% of the sales volume  of the cosmetics online in April 2014. Overall online sales value of cosmetics were driven by the middle and high-price cosmetics.

E-commerce sites, search engines and online community were the top three sources of cosmetics websites traffic. For vertical B2C and B2C with label brands, site navigation and web searching have the most powerful impact according to iResearch.

China’s top 20 cosmetics brands by total pageviews are:

1. Carslan
2. L’oreal
3. Pechoin
4. Meifubao
5. Inoherb
6. Maybelline
7. OLAY
8. Kans
9. PROYA
10. UN
11. Wetherm
12. Chcedo
13. EST
14. BE
15. Yunifang
16. Hanhoo
17. Laneige
18. Perfect
19. Nivea
20. Lancome

The top 20 accounted 21.3% of the total pageviews in China cosmetics market.

Some Chinese shoppers buy products on oversea online retailers, which will be delivered directly to their Chinese address. These group of users are commonly known as Haitao in China.

According to China E-Commerce Research Center, China online shoppers’ oversea purchase reached RMB74.4 billion (US$12.5 billion) in 2013 from RMB12 billion in 2010, and it’s estimated to reach RMB 140 billion (US$22.68 billion) this year.

Popular Products

There are eight categories of consumers products that are very popular among oversea online buyers:

• Cosmetic and skin care products
• Makeup products
• Women clothing
• Perfume
• Toys
• Health supplement products
• Milk powder & food supplement
• Miscellaneous products for women

Popular Shopping Locations

Chinese online buyers’s most oversea purchase last year was from the U.S., followed by these locations:

• Hong Kong
• Malaysia
• Netherlands
• South Korea
• Denmark
• Japan
• Taiwan
• United Kingdom
• Sweden

What are Chinese Buying from Oversea E-tailers?

50% of the purchased products from United States are milk powders, men and women’s clothing, and health supplement products.

Premium clothing and luxury products are much more popular oversea online purchase this year and the total transactions have been increased by over 20 times. In addition, outdoor products purchase has seen growth by over 50%.

The growth will likely continue as the Chinese government promotes cross-border e-commerce.

Source: Taobao

The turnover of Estee Lauder’s Tmall flagship store in June was nearly 10 million yuan, stimulating the off-line store sales at the same time.

According to CCW.com.cn, there were a total number of close to one million visitors and over two million views on Estee Launcher Tmall store. Their products were bookmarked over 50 thousand times by over 30 thousand visitors.

Estee Lauder launched Tmall flagship store on 21 May as the only authorized third-party e-commerce platform in China and the sales exceeded RMB 3 million on the first day.

Tmall has received a lot of expectations from luxury brands such as Burberry; and, it can not be treated as an alternative sales channel without an operation strategy. Estee Lauder chose Tmall as product launch platform of its upgraded product ANR3 eye cream with limited quantity. ANR3 has 25% market share in China’s premium skin care market. In China, every one of four bottles of eye cream is ANR eye cream.

Estee Lauder launched their official online shop on Tmall on 21 May 2014 and the total sales reached about 3 million yuan on the first day according to leaked sales data online.

According to the leaked data on Weibo, Estee Lauder Tmall store had 7,941 transactions on 21 May 2014; with an average customer purchase value of 339 yuan, the estimated total one day revenue is about 2.69 million yuan.

Estee Lauder has about 170 counters in the country, according to annual sales of 3 billion yuan, the average daily sales is 49,019 yuan per store. The one day sales on Tmall is more than one month revenue of one offline store sales.

Burberry also launched their flagship store on Tmall this week with disappointing performance.