From March to August of this year, the turnover of intelligent oral products like dental flosser and beauty dental instrument increased by 253% YoY on Tmall Global; the post-1995 generation has become the major force of oral care consumption, accounting for more than 50%. Other oral care products like breath deodorants, whitening enzyme toothpaste and dental floss are also gaining more traction [1].
Colgate, one of the leading brands in the Chinese oral care products market, has upgraded its Tmall Global store and provided a full range of products to Chinese online shoppers. It rolled out its latest LED Teeth Whitening Device which sold over 20,000 pieces within 20 days. The retail unit price is 1,380 yuan.
Colgate LED Teeth Whitening Device, by Colgate official website
Waterpik, a US-based personal and oral health care products brand, also had eye-catching performance in the Chinese market by offering portable water flosser. The turnover of its newly launched water flosser GS10-1 surpassed 1 million yuan within one week on the Tmall marketplace. The retail unit price is 1299 yuan.
Waterpik water flosser GS10-1, by Waterpik Tmall Store
Other International personal and oral care brands like BabySmile (children’s oral care), ASHMORE, MsMe, YINGKEER also targeting the promising Chinese market and set up cross-border e-commerce stores.
Popular oral care products of BabySmile, by BabySmile Tmall Store
According to Tmall Global, it has introduced more than 30 new imported oral care brands in 2020 and plans to assist 20 brands that record a 10 million annual transaction.
According to iiMedia report [2], the oral problems of Chinese citizens are serious. The incidence of cavities in children aged 12 is 34.5%, for children aged 5 is 70.9%. The rate of gingival bleeding in middle-aged people aged 35-44 is 87.4%, and the detection rate of calculus is 96.7%. In addition, the domestic utilization rate of electric oral care devices like electric toothbrushes is only 5%, lagging far behind that of Western countries.
The top demands for oral health function for consumers on Tmall Global include [3]:
Fresh breath
Whitening
Removal of teeth stains
Bactericidal effect
Decay preparation
Cleaning
Repair tooth enamel
Sensitive resistance
In China, the oral care market is still in the development stage, fueled by the increasing awareness of the young generation to have health and pretty teeth. Data from Euromonitor International shows that in 2018, China's oral care market scale exceeded 40 billion yuan, with a growth rate of over 10%. It is expected that the growth rate will remain around 10% for the next two years.
There is also great potential in low-tier cities as consumer awareness of oral hygiene keeps the need for a basic brushing routine. Even though some people will only brush their teeth once in the morning, it's also changing.
At ChemLinked, we think China's oral care market's growth is also a typical outcome of consumption upgrade and it will continue to move toward to premiumization (i.e. with natural ingredients) and segmentation. If you are looking for business opportunities in oral care products in China, and need any advice on market entry, product evaluation, or channel selection, please drop a message to chris@chemlinked.com.
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