Recently, Miguang, a leading home beauty device brand, refuted the rumors of layoffs and bankruptcy spread on the Internet, saying that the company's business is running steadily and the certificate is progressing smoothly. The industry believes that the turmoil of Miguang is related to the new regulations on the supervision of radio frequency beauty devices implemented in April this year. The day after Miguang issued a statement in response, the National Medical Products Administration announced that the implementation of the new regulatory regulations would be postponed for two years, and relevant companies ushered in a two-year buffer period and had more time to apply for the registration certificate of Class III medical devices. The household beauty instrument market, which has been popular for many years, has entered the era of "machine brand" from the era of small household appliances, and how relevant manufacturers can successfully "break through" has become a topic of public concern.
Bankruptcy rumors have attracted market attention
As an Internet celebrity brand in the domestic beauty instrument track, Miguang has attracted a lot of attention from the market, and the news of layoffs and bankruptcy suddenly came out in July, which is really surprising.
The incident was initially posted on social platforms by someone saying "suddenly notified of being laid off", and it didn't take long for the related posts to be deleted, but more discussions about "Miguang suspected bankruptcy" and "Miguang running away" began to appear on the Internet.
A few days after the rumors fermented, Wang Nianou, founder and CEO of Miguang, updated the news in his personal circle of friends, "Some time ago, affected by the vicious competition in the industry, there were indeed challenges, but fortunately, the top and bottom worked together and broke free from the predicament. He also said that recently, the industry has entered a new era of medical devices, as the industry's first light, more than two years ago, after the national policy was promulgated, the first time to lay out the registration application for three types of medical devices, and as the first echelon, to complete the medical product registration inspection, is expected to become the first batch of enterprises in the industry to obtain the registration certificate of related products and medical devices.
The day after Wang Nianou released the circle of friends, Miguang also responded on its official WeChat account that the company's business is running steadily, there are no operational problems, and the full line of products and after-sales service are provided normally. The regular organizational adjustment related to the company's business adjustment has no impact on products, services, business cooperation, etc., and all businesses are progressing in an orderly manner.
A reporter from Beiqing Daily noticed that Miguang is still recommending and selling goods on the e-commerce platform and live broadcast room normally.
Due to the previous standards, the standards related to domestic home beauty instruments were mainly treated according to conventional small household appliances, but such standards were not mandatory, and the phenomenon of mixed market was endless. In the marketing of merchants hyped up with the effect of "comparable to medical beauty", many consumers who pursue cost-effectiveness have paid for it, but because the beauty instrument products are charged and can be used directly in contact with the skin, problems such as leakage, burns, redness and swelling, acne, and no effect have been repeatedly complained.
When the household RF beauty device was included in the supervision of the third class of medical devices, beauty device brands, including Miguang, began to reduce prices to destock, which affected the company's payment collection. According to some analysts, the implementation of the new regulations is to standardize the beauty instrument market and improve product quality and safety, and it is inevitable that the survival of the fittest will occur in this process. The deeper reason is that the sustainability of the company's own development model has been challenged.
The extension of the new rules gives a buffer time
On the second day of Meguang's official response, the official website of the State Drug Administration issued the "Announcement on Further Clarifying the Relevant Requirements for Radiofrequency Therapy Instrument Products", which mentioned that from April 1, 2026, radiofrequency therapy instruments and radiofrequency skin therapy instruments that act on human skin and subcutaneous tissues to cause pathological/physiological changes in human tissues and cells, so as to achieve their intended use, shall not be produced, imported and sold without obtaining a medical device registration certificate in accordance with the law. This also means that the implementation of the new regulations on radio frequency beauty devices, which was originally scheduled to be officially implemented from April 2024, will be postponed for 2 years.
As for the reason for the postponement, the announcement mentions, "At this stage, most of the registration applicants for handheld radio frequency therapy devices and radio frequency skin therapy devices are home appliance companies, and due to multiple factors such as the epidemic and the implementation of relevant standards, product inspection and clinical trials are prolonged, and it will take a certain amount of time to prepare product registration applications and supplement materials." ”
According to industry insiders, in order to obtain the registration certificate of Class III medical devices, the product needs to be redesigned and produced, sent for inspection, clinical trials, etc., and it is necessary to find a factory that meets the production requirements of Class III medical devices, which increases the cost and time cost a lot. It takes about half a year to one year for the product to be designed, developed and optimized according to the medical standard period, and the clinical trial takes one to two years. The whole cycle takes 34 months.
According to the government service platform of the Ministry of Science and Technology, among the RF beauty device brands on the market, Huazhi, Yameng, OGP, and Miguang have all carried out RF beauty instrument test filing and launched clinical trial projects, Mary Xian has launched clinical trials, and the rest of the brands are still in a state of advancement. Up to now, no brand has obtained the third class medical device certificate.
The two-year postponement of the implementation of the new regulations will undoubtedly give relevant enterprises more time to adapt and adjust. During this period, related products can still continue to be sold, and a reporter from Beiqing Daily noticed that a number of brands have put radio frequency beauty instrument products on the shelves again, with a price of two or three thousand yuan. Chupu beauty equipment flagship store launched a 1 yuan pre-order RF beauty instrument new product activity; Yaman's ACE 5th generation gold five-ring home facial radiofrequency device is on sale, and the merchant said that before the implementation of the new regulations on April 1, 2026, the sales of Yaman's existing products will comply with relevant regulations; Jimeng has put on the shelves a transdermal collagen light beauty device that "surpasses radio frequency", claiming that one transdermal collagen light is equal to three radio frequency beauty devices.
According to the "2020-2026 China Beauty Instrument Industry Market Size Research and Development Trend Analysis Report" released by Zhiyan Consulting, the market size of China's home beauty instrument will be close to 10 billion yuan in 2023, and it is expanding at a compound annual growth rate of more than 30%, and it is expected to exceed 20 billion yuan in 2026.
The industry believes that perhaps the first batch of certificates will be issued in July and August this year. The transition period is an important opportunity for the industry, giving companies more time to upgrade product technology and improve quality management systems, so as to adapt to new regulatory requirements and win the market.
It's time for a money-throwing marketing strategy to change
According to public information, Shenzhen Zongjiang Technology, the parent company of Miguang, was established in 2015, and the original product developed was a smart beauty mirror that meets the needs of makeup and light, and quickly seized the market by obtaining traffic through marketing, and the cosmetic mirror priced at 899 yuan reached 60 million yuan in sales in the first year of its launch, and the product properly became an "Internet celebrity". In 2018, Miguang makeup mirror also appeared in the live broadcast room of the head anchor, which received great exposure, and the sales volume exceeded 100 million that year.
Later, Miguang entered the home beauty instrument track. In 2020, the first handheld intense pulse laser therapy device was launched, and in 2021, the deep radiofrequency beauty device was launched. The company's products gradually cover ultrasonic eggs, collagen guns, beauty instruments, hair removal instruments, beauty mirrors, skin care products and other categories, and still use the game of spending money on marketing. Excessive promotion and marketing expenses have also made the cost high, and a former employee once revealed to the media that the promotion and marketing expenses of Miguang in 2023 will be about more than 200 million.
RF beauty devices are sold at a high price and are highly profitable. However, according to industry insiders, the cost of raw materials for many beauty devices actually only accounts for 10% of the total cost, and the research and development is only about 15%. However, in terms of marketing expenses, they are very willing to spend money, and it is reported that the commission of radio frequency beauty equipment to the anchor is even as high as 60%.
With the sluggish growth of the predominantly online e-commerce ecosystem, brands that rely heavily on online transactions are feeling the pressure. The uncertainty of sales and cost pressure and uncertainty, the performance of the once rapid growth is unsustainable, and some problems are beginning to be exposed.
There is a view that, taking Miguang as an example, due to the lack of control over channel prices, some products are sold at different prices in online and offline sales channels, and the online price is more than 1,500 yuan more expensive than the offline price. was complained about "cutting leeks online and clearing inventory offline". The root cause of the layoffs may be that the management team and organizational structure have not matured synchronously during the rapid growth of turnover in the past few years, and this "asymmetry" has led to deep-seated contradictions in internal management.
The competition in the second half of the RF beauty instrument track has begun, and over-reliance on burning money to pull traffic will not last long. From savage growth to orderly development, RF beauty device companies need to change their strategies and achieve long-term healthy development through strict quality management and continuous R&D investment.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Song Xia
Edit/Field
【Copyright Notice】The copyright of this article (including the right of information network dissemination) belongs to Beijing Youth Daily, and may not be reproduced without authorization