2023 beauty keywords: Japan and South Korea prices have plunged, and anti-purchasing has brought domestic products to fire

The cold of beauty in Japan and South Korea continues. On December 26, "the price of imported cosmetics at the end of the year almost halved" appeared on the hot search on Weibo, and a reporter from Beijing Business Daily learned that this price plunge is especially obvious in the field of beauty in Japan and South Korea. For example, the price of LG Household Health's whoo post-set gift box fell to 6 or 700 yuan, the price of Shiseido's red waist was cut in half, and the price of Elisil fell by more than 200 yuan...... In strong contrast to the cold of Japanese and Korean beauty products, domestic beauty products have also made some splashes in overseas markets while growing in the domestic market.

Price diving becomes the norm

In Taobao Tmall International self-operated stores, you can buy a 7-piece set of whoo Houtian Dan with an original price of more than 1,000 yuan for only 777 yuan, which is not new in the eyes of consumer Lili. In Lily's impression, this is what it looks like after whoo in the past two years, the price reduction is very serious, and some purchasing agents can buy it for 600 yuan.

After whoo, it is a skin care brand in the high-end field of LG Household Health, a South Korean cosmetics company. Entering the Chinese market in 2006, it is a high-end skin care brand for women over 25 years old with "Korean court skin care" and "queen's skin care secrets" as its selling points, claiming to be extracted from dozens of precious herbs.

"1780 yuan" is the official price of the WHOO post-weather pill set. "In addition to the price of the official flagship store and counter, the price of products from other channels cannot be officially guaranteed and is not clear. After whoo, the official customer service staff told a reporter from Beijing Business Daily, "Our official price has always been 1780 yuan." ”

A reporter from Beijing Business Daily learned that in the official flagship store, the price of the box is indeed 1780 yuan, but in addition to this channel, the price of other channels is not uniform. In the Tmall Global self-operated store, the price of the box is 818 yuan. In the hands of purchasing agents, you can start with about 700 yuan. Purchasing Aishang said that the price of the weather Dan box is more than 700 yuan, small profits and quick turnover, and he generally sells it for 799 yuan, which is a very conscientious price in the purchasing circle.

In fact, judging from the overall status quo of Korean cosmetics in the Chinese market, post-whoo is just a microcosm of Korean beauty. In addition to the price plunge after Whoo, offline withdrawals such as Sumi 37° and innisfree's large-scale store closures are considered to be the manifestations of the cold performance of Korean cosmetics in the Chinese market.

Although Japanese makeup is not as obvious as Korean makeup, after Japan's discharge of nuclear wastewater, the sound of Japanese beauty being cold is getting louder and louder. The most intuitive phenomenon of this sound is the plunge in the price of Japanese beauty brands. Among them, Shiseido is somewhat representative.

Consumer Xiaoyu told reporters that a few years ago, the price of 50ml of red waist in the hands of purchasing agents was more than 600 yuan, and now Walmart 120ml only needs 598 yuan, and Li Jiaqi's 50ml live broadcast room is now only 370 yuan. "Other brands have increased their prices many times a year, and the prices are getting more expensive every year, but Shiseido is giving more than a year. Xiaoyu teased.

In addition to the red waist, the price of Shiseido's other brand, Elisel, has also dropped sharply. Consumer Aban said that the price of the Yilisier water milk bought in 2019 in the domestic market will reach more than 500 yuan, and now the price of 209 yuan is really a big dive. Tian Tong, a consumer, said that Elisel is much cheaper, and the classic Youhuoyan series can now be cheaper by more than 200 yuan.

On issues related to product price diving, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily interviewed Shiseido, but did not receive a reply as of press time.

In the view of Wu Daiqi, CEO of Shenzhen Siqisheng Company, daily cosmetics brands like Shiseido have been greatly affected by the nuclear sewage discharge incident. Once consumers have concerns about the production place or raw materials of the product, it is easy to seek domestic brands or European and American brands for replacement.

Conceptual marketing failure

The most direct impact on Japanese and Korean beauty brands is the decline in performance.

According to the financial report information, Shiseido's net sales in the third quarter of this year were 228.2 billion yen (about 10.992 billion yuan), down 15.3% year-on-year, and the core operating profit was 8.8 billion yen (about 424 million yuan), down 52.9% year-on-year. Due to the decline in performance in the third quarter, offsetting the growth in the first half of the year, Shiseido's net sales in the first three quarters were 722.4 billion yen (about 34.798 billion yuan), down 5.3% year-on-year, and the core operating profit was 36.8 billion yen (about 1.773 billion yuan), a year-on-year increase of 1.6%.

Looking at the Chinese market, Shiseido's sales fell by 9% in the third quarter. Offsetting the growth in the first half of the year, the Chinese market retreated to become Shiseido's second largest market in the first three quarters.

Looking at LG Household Healthcare, in the first half of 2023, its sales fell by 0.5% year-on-year, operating profit fell by 22.5% year-on-year, and net profit fell by 19.6% year-on-year. In the third quarter of 2023, this decline has not stopped. In the third quarter, its sales were 1,746 billion won (about 9.446 billion yuan), down 6.6% year-on-year, operating profit was 128 billion won (about 692 million yuan), down 32.4% year-on-year, and net profit was 91 billion won (about 492 million yuan), down 28.3% year-on-year. In the Chinese market, in the first nine months of 2023, LG Household Healthcare's sales accounted for 10%, and sales fell by 14.9% compared with the same period last year.

"Relying on the rise of Hallyu culture such as Korean dramas and idol groups, Korean cosmetics have set off a Korean trend and are quite popular with young consumers. However, the popularity of these brands is based on differentiated and conceptual marketing, and with the retreat of the Korean Wave in recent years and the domestic cosmetics market entering a competitive mode dominated by technical efficacy, Korean cosmetics have naturally gradually been ignored by consumers. Xia Xia, an angel investor in the daily chemical industry, said.

In sharp contrast to Japanese and Korean beauty brands, domestic beauty brands are achieving positive growth. From the performance point of view, Proya and Bethany's latest financial reports have achieved growth. In the first three quarters of 2023, Proya's revenue and net profit increased by 32.47% and 52.18% respectively, while Bethany's revenue increased by 18.51% and 11.96% respectively. According to public data, in the list of brand results on the first day of pre-sale in the beauty industry's "Double 11" this year, the top 20 domestic brands on the list have increased from 5 last year to 10 this year, including Proya, Winona, Quadi, Nature, etc., and this year Proya surpassed L'Oreal to rank first, and Estee Lauder fell out of the top three.

Domestic beauty products attack overseas markets

While the domestic market is achieving positive growth, domestic beauty brands are also trying to expand into overseas markets, and the anti-daigou boom in recent years is becoming an opportunity for domestic beauty brands.

Xiaozhi, who studied in the United States, claimed that he had achieved the freedom of domestic makeup in the United States: "32 dollars won five Zhiyouquan lipsticks in full. Xiaoyi, an international student, said, "I originally thought that there were no such brands abroad, but after getting familiar with the environment, I found that I could also buy domestic makeup brands such as Caitang and Perfect Diary abroad."

Many international students use the "Xiaohongshu Beauty" on the Xiaohongshu platform to buy domestic beauty products in reverse. Xiaoyi told reporters, "Xiaohongshu Beauty is the first domestic beauty product in the United States, and it has its own warehouse in North America, so it is very convenient for us international students to wait for a long sea shipment."

"People in France reverse overseas shopping", "people in Japan reverse purchasing", "people in Canada to buy domestic products" have become the oral language of many international students.

Such an anti-purchasing phenomenon has been concerned by domestic beauty brands. At this month's salon of "The Next Stop of Consumer Innovation" co-sponsored by Beijing Business Daily and Deep Blue Media Think Tank, Zhong Wei, assistant to the chairman and director of public relations of Bethany, shared his observations on the anti-daigou phenomenon. "In recent years, we have paid attention to overseas markets and found an interesting phenomenon - anti-daigou. Some international students will bring their products from home to foreign use, and a lot of overseas students will also choose to use domestic brands including Bethany and Perfect Diary. Zhong Wei said.

It is understood that at the beginning of March 2021, Huaxizi officially entered Amazon Japan, and on the first day of its launch, its concentric lock lipstick once ranked among the top three in the hourly lipstick sales list of Amazon in Japan. In addition, Chinese cosmetics brands such as Huazhizhi, Fei Luer, and INTO U have begun to develop Japan as a key market. Perfect Diary, a domestic beauty brand, launched its overseas website in 2020, and has Chinese, English, Japanese, Russian and Thai languages, and supports payment in US dollars, Singapore dollars, Malaysian ringgit, Thai baht and Hong Kong dollars.

According to Jumei's statistics, Perfect Diary, Huaxizi, Huazhizhi, ZEESEA, etc. have all built their own overseas independent stations, and established corresponding payment, settlement, logistics, supply chain and other systems, and then through email marketing, Facebook and other off-site drainage, to build brand awareness, establish a free traffic pool, and achieve brand DTC.

Beijing Business Daily reporter Guo Xiujuan Zhang Junhua