Monthly Digest: China Cosmetic Industry Review | August 2019

1. The American brand “Drunk Elephant” will enter China

2. Fenty Beauty (pop icon Rihanna’s brand) will officially launch in Hong Kong, Macao, Seoul, and Jeju Island in September.

Wang Ju, a Chinese singer who subverts traditional aesthetic standards has been announced as the new spokesperson

3. L’Oreal Paris was the #1 beauty brand on Tmall by trading value in July

4. Chanel perfume and beauty products opened their Tmall flagship store, selling perfume, make-up and skincare products

5. Japan exported the largest value of cosmetics to China translating to a value of almost 11.8 billion Yuan in the first half of 2019

6. China domestic brand Perfect Diary entered the perfume market

7. Valentine’s day and other holidays/seasonal promotions continue to act as strong drivers of short-term growth

8. P&G is cooperating with Chinese stationery manufacturer M&G to release a series of customized stationery

9. Kanebo's cosmetic brands Suqqu and RMK will enter the Chinese market by cross-border e-commerce

Suqqu and RMK are both popular with Chinese consumers

1. NMPA: 2 batches of cosmetics for infants and young children were flagged by market regulators due to compliance issues

2. L’Oreal was accused of plagiarism after its Valentine’s day promotional gift “gun bag” was shown to bear a striking similarity to a bag previously released by GOFEFE, a Chinese domestic brand

3. China Approves Testing Method for Cimetidine in Cosmetics

4. NMPA: Cosmetics manufacturer Chenxin, Caijie, and other several companies required to halt production on several product lines, issue recalls and make rectifications

5. According to the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council, China will impose an additional 10% tariffs on some U.S. cosmetics starting from December

1. The Korean cosmetics group AmorePacific and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group have announced a global strategic cooperation, which will include the new product incubation, new retail marketing, data asset management, and overseas market expansion

2. Alibaba’s 2 billion acquisition of Netease’s cross-border e-commerce platform Netease Kaola has collapsed, claims corroborated by chairman and CEO of Netease, Ding Lei

3. Isetan Beauty, the cosmetics store owned by Japanese department store Isedan, will close its first store in China

Industry winners and losers ^[1]

• Watson China’s sales in the first half of 2019 amounted to over 11 billion Yuan, contributing to over 15% of global sales

• According to L’Oreal’s financial report, its H1 2019 performance has been the best in over 10 years

• NARS China’s sales doubled in the second quarter. The company will increase investment in the Asia-Pacific market in the second half of the year

• Shanghai Jahwa’s net profit surged by 40.12% and its revenue exceeded 3.9 billion Yuan in the first half of 2019

• PROYA’s net revenue and net profit in the first half of the year rose sharply to double digits

• Estee Lauder’s revenue exceeded $14.8 billion in fiscal year 2019, with net profit soaring by 61%. But the net profit in the fourth quarter fell by 15.5%.

• Shiseido China achieved 2 billion Yuan in the first half of the year, increasing by 20%

• Bawang issued a profit warning that its net loss in the first half of 2019 exceeded 2018 figures.

• Revlon’s second-quarter revenue was 4 billion Yuan, down 6% year on year. Now, Revlon is looking to sell the entire company and major brands

• Amorepacific Corporation’s net profit was 1.375 billion Yuan, plunging by 30.6% in the first half of the year

• Kao Corporation’s net profit fell 9% in the first half of the year, which is the first loss recorded in the past 6 years