Three ways in which Vogue’s trend tracker is relevant for the Chinese beauty sector

The Vogue Business Beauty Tracker is a fascinating development in global beauty trends, and is worth the attention of China watchers seeking positioning and messaging opportunities in the market. It should be noted that we believe there is relevance for China-watchers and decision makers in China despite the tracker being built by Spate, a trends firm based outside of China, likely without access to Chinese search & e-commerce data.?

What is the Vogue Business Beauty Tracker??

The Vogue Business Beauty Trend Tracker, produced in collaboration with Spate, tracks the top five brands, trends and ingredients that are driving the most significant positive change in year-on-year growth globally, as well as in terms of search intent globally. Each month, Vogue spotlights a different beauty category - and? (we daresay fortunately) it just so happened that the latest installment of the tracker covered the skincare sector.?

Three ways in which Vogue’s beauty trend tracker is relevant for Chinese skincare??

(i) There is plenty of trend mirroring in China?

The first reason for the relevance of this tracker, which unusually links trends to actual search intent (and ranks competitiveness of terms) is that plenty of the global trends highlighted in Vogue’s global tracker have poignance in China, and in many cases are additionally already established online as trends, with product clusters related to them, such whether it's matcha or mist. When it comes to oil-based cleansers, a product trend, this is typified by the online buzz in China around 以油养肤, or nourishing skin with oil, which has seen a huge growth in recent months, and an associated crop of foreign products like . The tilt towards clean beauty and biological ingredients as a solution to acne and aging (saggy) skin are also both well established trends in China, both highlighted in Jing Daily’s Beauty Cheat Sheet.?

(ii) The brands highlighted are primed for testing the waters??

Although not all of the brands listed in the Vogue tracker will have the minerals (pun intended) to crack China, some referenced in previous brand tracker top fives certainly will be primed to test the waters. Deep within Geek & Gorgeous’s website, it appears for example previous concerns with regards animal testing have changed in accordance with legislation updates, covered in a previous YASO blog here - we think this should be acted on, and that Geek & Gorgeous alongside SpoiledChild have the virtual and peer-driven trust signals, grass-root influencer programme and product design to bring a point of difference to the market.?

As they and other brands listed in the tracker well know, market entry into China requires thoughtful planning, resources and culturally relevant execution within the product seeding and product buying platforms across China. For these brands specifically, and competitors perhaps already in the market, it would be wise to keep one eye on brands that are building up search intent outside of China so as not to be caught off-guard.?

Of the brands mentioned on the tracker, despite listings on Taobao and mentions on XiaoHongShu, Glow Recipe has relatively limited sentiment in China, whilst the other brands have generally limited awareness across the country, with very few online mentions and distribution across online stores. The exception is Byoma, which does have some (circa 500) sales volume and a niche level of online chatter and peer review against the “niche” (小众) term. It does show there is some awareness but definitely a foundation for those “in the know”, but to build on rather than evidence of a cult following.??

(iii) Beyond the topline, growth in still hard to come by for skincare and beauty brands?

A topline CAGR projection of 4.8% suggests everything's “all good” when it comes to the Chinese skincare market. High profile reported rebounds for some of the skincare and beauty giants in the market have offset concerns about a decline in overseas travel leading to a stagnation in the market.??

The reality is much more complex and challenging though, and the truth is that growth is hard to come by for those businesses outside the multi-national pantheon. A definite favouring of “Made in China” domestic players, increasingly contracting purchasing power amongst the Chinese middle class, and the? rise of unbranded “own label” skincare brands are all squeezing the growth potential of foreign market brands, and beyond the huge conglomerates like L’Oreal, Estee Lauder and Shiseido, the topline growth doesn’t always trickle down to new market entrants. For this reason it is especially important to seek any product or benefit/concern-based trends, such a water or oil based (products) or non-toxic or dry skin (benefits/concerns), to leverage points of difference that might be being underserved or underrated in China.?

To decipher global beauty trends and understand how they apply to the nuances of the Chinese market, get in touch with the YASO team today and book a growth consultation. Don’t get left behind!?

Source: Jing Daily, Vogue Business?