China focus: Latest developments in China’s booming beauty market

‘Tremendous growth potential’: MINISO sees fragrances as key to transforming into global ‘super-brand’​​

Chinese retail brand MINISO has identified fragrances as one of categories that will be pivotal to its global ambitions, with the firm reporting buoyant demand in Indonesia.

To date, MINISO's entire fragrance category, which consists of products such as perfumes, has accumulated global revenue exceeding approximately USD240m.

The category has primarily been driven by younger consumers aged between 25 and 34.

Douyin debutante: La Prairie hopes entry on popular app will improve position in China​​

Luxury skin care brand La Prairie is set to make its debut on short-form video platform Douyin, the Chinese counterpart of TikTok, in November, in a bid to improve its position in China’s challenging market environment.

According to its latest third quarter (Q3) reports, the Swiss brand saw its sales decline by 15.8%.

The brand also recently entered e-commerce platforms Tmall and JD.com.

“We are expecting a lot. This is the main growth opportunity in China. It has driven the growth of our key competitors… This, together with an increased distribution and a better innovation plan should help us do a much better year in China, not only in brick-and-mortar, but also in e-commerce and obviously in travel retail,”​ said Vincent Warnery, CEO of La Prairie’s parent company Beiersdorf.

India, SEA will drive growth amid China’s slow recovery – L’Oréal​​

L’Oréal is turning to emerging markets such as India and South East Asia to drive growth in the wake of China’s slow market recovery.

The L’Oréal Group announced that sales in the South Asia-Pacific, Middle East and North Africa region (SAPMENA) achieved outstanding growth of 15.6%.

According to the firm, all countries in the region reported double-digit like-for-like growth. The Australia-New Zealand cluster, India, and Thailand were the region’s top three contributors.

China’s new toothpaste regulations raise barrier, increase costs and time to market – analyst​​

Toothpaste products in China will be regulated under a new set of measures starting from December 1, which a regulatory analyst says is a more rigorous approach that has raised entry thresholds and brought about various challenges for companies.

Currently, toothpastes in China are regulated under a straightforward management scheme, where compliance with national and industry standards allows entry into the market.

With the updated measures, toothpaste products will require notification, testing, safety assessment, efficacy evaluation, and new ingredients application.

Perfect Diary launches lipstick that can ‘reduce fine lines by over 50%’​​

Perfect Diary has launched a lipstick that claims have built-on lip essence and lip mask benefits, thanks to its latest patented “bio film” technology.

The Bio Film Essence Lipstick was described as “the brand's first innovative lipstick product that combines lipstick makeup effects, lip essence functions and lip mask”.​

The lipstick features a pomegranate peptide complex, which the firm claims can “deeply plump the lip skin and make the lip skin glow with health and vitality”. ​