Beauty tools become a "dark horse" in the makeup subdivision track

A Hermès lipstick brush costs 675 yuan, Chanel blush brush 500 yuan, Uemura Shu No. 55 foundation brush 495 yuan... In recent years, beauty tools have actively explored the blue ocean market in the industry as a "small category". The reporter noticed that although the high-end market is still dominated by international brands, domestic brands are also seizing the high-end market with cost-effective products, such as Mao Geping's 280 yuan eyeshadow brush and Caitang's 139 yuan non-marking foundation brush, all on the Tmall list makeup brush · Top 10 of the V list.

According to the data of the Prospective Economist, the average annual compound growth rate of the market size of China's beauty tool industry in 2017~2020 is 22.21%, according to which it is estimated that the market size of the beauty tool industry will exceed 27.5 billion yuan in 2027. The industry revealed that in the tens of billions of beauty track, with the increase in demand for beauty tools in the domestic consumer market, products are also developing in the direction of diversification and refinement. Compared with the mature skin care market, beauty tools may become the "dark horse" in the makeup segment.

Market trends

The category of beauty tools has increased significantly, and the new national cosmetics have seized the high-end market

In recent years, with the increase in domestic beauty demand and the development of beauty social platforms, beauty tools as a "small category" have developed rapidly.

According to Quantuo data, from March 2021 to February 2022, the annual sales of beauty tools reached 10.43 billion yuan. Among them, Tmall's sales in the past year reached 5.07 billion yuan, accounting for 49%, and it is the first online sales platform for beauty tools; It is followed by Taobao, with sales of 4.009 billion yuan in the past year, accounting for 38%.

On social media platforms, beauty tools are also quite popular. As of September, Xiaohongshu has read about 190 million times about the topic of sharing beauty tools, about 170,000 beauty tool notes have been published, and 300,000 product categories have been published, and the topic of "makeup tools" on Douyin has been viewed 4.54 billion times. Business analysts revealed that even "small categories" can become "big business" due to consumer demand.

The industry believes that based on the rapid development of the domestic beauty industry, consumers have greater demand for the delicacy of makeup, the convenience of the makeup process and the satisfaction of the makeup experience, so they also put forward higher requirements for the use and selection of beauty tools. At present, the high-end market of beauty tools is still dominated by foreign brands, but national cosmetics brands are also accelerating the expansion of small category tracks, seizing the domestic mid-end market, and the improvement of competitiveness is similar to the underlying logic of beauty categories.

Local breakout

Create "ace set" and "portable package" multi-functional multi-scene application

With the "overtaking" of domestic cosmetics brands in the beauty track, the competitiveness of local brands in the beauty tool market is also further increasing. According to a report by the Prospective Industry Research Institute, by the end of 2022, many cutting-edge brands such as Perfect Diary, Mao Geping, Kazilan, Maridaijia, and Orange Duoduo have sprung up, rapidly occupying the low-end market of China's beauty tools and some high-end markets. The industry said that domestic beauty tool brands still have greater market development space under the guidance of national fashion.

The mainland beauty tool market was low in the initial stage, but in the past two years, China Cosmetics has successfully launched high-end products with the help of brand effect. Perfect Diary Master series beauty tools (5 sticks) priced at 425 yuan; The price of the complete set of Daimo beginner tools (8 products) is 328 yuan, and they all show their strength in the mid-to-high-end gears. Guangzhou business analyst Xiao Tang said that the new leader of national cosmetics to seize the high-end market is of positive significance to driving the industry to high-quality development.

The reporter found that compared with the "playing method" of international brands to promote "golden items", national makeup is more inclined to create "ace sets", and matches more functions, more humanized innovative designs, reflecting high cost performance. For example, it has a unique "triangle rounded" design, which can make the brush handle of the paint have a comfortable grip; A spherical blush brush can not only brush blush but also set makeup; The foundation brush that grabs powder also comes with the ability to blend and dye. "When buying big-name beauty tools, they pay more for a premium to their brand value, but local brands are buying for functionality." "Post-95" consumer Xiaofang said that as an auxiliary product, the efficacy of beauty tools is more important than appearance.

In addition to functionality and packaging design, the reporter also noticed that Chinese cosmetics brands are good at creating "multi-scene" multi-tool products, such as launching "portable clothing" and "full suit". Industry veterans revealed that on the one hand, this is for bundle marketing, on the other hand, it is also content marketing, in the process of "planting grass" to output the product itself about the function of information, increase consumer stickiness.

Beauty tools refer to auxiliary tools that use cosmetics on people (faces, facial features and other parts) to achieve the purpose of grooming, rather than beauty devices that use technological means to change their own shape or skin properties. Generally speaking, beauty tools can achieve the overall effect of enhancing the three-dimensional impression of the face, adjusting the makeup, and complementing the weaknesses through rendering, drawing, and arranging. From the current market, beauty tools are roughly divided into base makeup tools, lip makeup tools, eye makeup tools, and makeup removal tools.

Industry analysis

It is necessary to strengthen the supply chain of enterprises to enhance productivity and competitiveness

Although domestic cutting-edge products are actively seizing the high-end market, high cost performance is still the biggest advantage of domestic products. It is worth noting that the overall upgrade of the beauty tool supply chain is related to the bargaining power of the product. The reporter learned that the upstream raw materials of beauty tools mainly include various plastic products, artificial hair, animal hair, etc., and there are many participants among upstream enterprises, so beauty tools have strong bargaining power for upstream suppliers. A technician who has served in the supply chain for more than 10 years revealed that in recent years, the upstream end of the supply chain has focused on raw material innovation, and is committed to breaking through the premise of high cost performance to achieve the ultimate in products. Taking the makeup brush as an example, the advantage of high density is that it is not easy to snap, but it will lead to a relatively hard texture, and the skin-friendly feeling when brushing is not soft enough, if it is both dense and soft is difficult, and the development of better raw materials is one of the directions.

The industry reminds that regardless of the size of the category, strengthening the supply chain of enterprises to improve product productivity and competitiveness is the key to continuously improving bargaining power and enhancing market pricing power.

As the beauty tool market continues to grow, so does the number of entrants, which means that the market competition will become more and more fierce. At present, mainland beauty tools are mainly sold through online channels, but they have not yet formed a very representative brand in this segment. In the future, the marketing methods of the beauty industry will continue to be more diversified to cope with the increased market size and expanded e-commerce sales channels, so beauty auxiliary products should strengthen brand building, create a unique image, further seize the young market, and lay out a longer-term brand strategy.

Consumption advice

Domestic products focus more on Asian face shapes

"There is no need to be overly obsessed with brand effects in beauty tools, and many domestic products are better to use than international brands at the same price." Li Lan, who has served as a specially invited makeup artist at Milan, Paris and New York Fashion Weeks, said that international brands are more inclined to European and American facial features in product design, but domestic products focus more on Asian face shapes to create products that are more in line with oriental aesthetics.

A person in charge of beauty tool products told reporters that there are many "three-nil products" on the market, the price is extremely cheap, but long-term use will cause consumers' skin allergies. "The advantage of domestic brands is not cheap, but cost-effective, safety is a must, it is recommended that consumers choose products produced by more high-quality enterprises." The person in charge said.

"Is this an IQ tax?" On social media, the most frequently asked questions from consumers focused on the functionality of beauty tools.

Li Lan told reporters that good makeup tools can make the makeup process smoother, and the makeup effect will be doubled. Li Lan said that professionals will indeed have better technology to control makeup tools than ordinary consumers, but for daily makeup scenes, the right makeup tools can allow you to get better makeup results and save time and effort. (Reporter Tan Weiting)