This is perhaps the most "authoritative" trend interpretation of China's perfume industry in 2021.
Yesterday (October 29), Yingtong Group, a leading beauty omni-channel brand management company in the Chinese market, joined hands with Kantar Consumer Index to release the "2021 China Perfume Industry Research White Paper" (hereinafter referred to as "White Paper 2.0").
This is another comprehensive combing, research and tone of China's perfume market after the release of the "China Perfume Industry Research White Paper 1.0" in 2020 and iResearch consulting, which brings the interpretation of the perfume market and consumers to the beauty industry for the first time.
If last year's white paper studied the basic characteristics of Chinese perfume consumers, as well as the behavior trends of consumers on the media side and experience end, this year's "White Paper 2.0" focuses more on Yingtong's exploration of China's perfume market, brand business play, and consumer demand exploration.
Founded in 1980 in Hong Kong, China, in 1989 into the mainland market, brilliant 41 years, standing in the next 40 years to open the key node, in the face of the outbreak of China's perfume market, Yingtong combing and setting the tone of China's perfume market, reflecting the perfume market leader should have the posture.
01
China's perfume market has been changing for 40 years
From "unattainable height" to "scene-based incense"
Lin Jing, senior vice president of Yingtong Group, who has been employed by Yingtong for 22 years and has become a "living dictionary" that records the changes in Chinese mainland perfume consumption, divides Chinese perfume consumption from the beginning of the 1980s into five stages based on ten years as a boundary:
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The first is the 1980s, when the curtain of reform and opening up is slowly opening, the average cost of each person in the country is only 42 yuan, and the consumption of perfume seems to be "unattainable". It was in that era when there was a lack of imagination about "beauty", Liu Jurong, president of Yingtong Group, entered the Chinese mainland market with his forward-looking consciousness and brought his first perfume brand, Salvador Dali of France.
Ten years later, in the 1990s, the average wage level of Chinese rose, and burberry, Dior, CHANEL and other international big-name perfumes entered the Chinese market one after another; around the 2000s, perfume gifts became popular, and Sephora also entered China; and around 2010, the rise of e-commerce channels, consumers opened the era of perfume self-use, and their preferences gradually diversified.
Time jumps back to the present, the current perfume market consumers are more mature, open the use of incense "self-pleasing" consciousness, and even have the habit of hoarding incense. At the same time, the perfume channel is diversified and the content is multi-dimensional. The most important thing is that with the continuous enhancement of national pride, the rise of cutting-edge original Chinese perfume brands.
More importantly, in the 40 years since the beginning of China's modern perfume market to the outbreak, Yingtong has always accompanied Chinese consumers and has a long-lasting belief in beauty.
Lin Jing once told the "Cosmetics Finance Online" reporter in an interview that in 1999, Yingtong's business in Chinese mainland accounted for less than 10% of the group, but in 2020, this value has exceeded 75%, and it is still increasing.
At present, Yingtong maintains a market share of more than 20% in the Chinese market and occupies an absolute advantage in the domestic market.
02
China's perfume market ushered in a golden age
"Perfume effect" replaces "lipstick effect"
Once upon a time, the famous "lipstick effect" during economic downturns has been gradually replaced by the "perfume effect" that more accurately summarizes changes in consumption habits after the covid-19 epidemic.
Under the epidemic, wearing a mask has become a semi-mandatory social requirement, and to some extent, makeup has lost its meaning. Perfumes that will not be obscured by masks have replaced lipstick and become an important category for consumers to improve their sense of happiness.
Under this premise, the "golden age" is the tone set by Wang Wei, vice president of Yingtong Group China, on the current Chinese perfume market.
△Wang Wei, Vice President of Yingtong Group China
Wang Wei revealed that according to Euromonitor's latest data, China's perfume market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14.9% between 2015 and 2020, while the growth rate in the next 5 years is more optimistic, expected to be 22.5%, and by 2025, the retail sales of China's perfume market will reach 30 billion yuan. The compound growth rate of the global market in the next 5 years is about 7%, and the comparison shows that in the next few years, the growth rate of the Chinese market will be about 3 times that of the global market, and the development potential is huge, which is an incremental market that the future international perfume brands need to lay out at the core.
So in such a well-blown Chinese perfume market, what are the development characteristics?
03
The share of high-end perfume market has jumped to 91%
"Neutral incense" or "male incense worn by women" became fashionable
"White Paper 2.0" shows that the core market segment driving the growth of China's perfume market is still high-end perfume, and the market share of high-end perfume brands has increased year by year, from 70% in 2015 to 91% in 2020.
Yingtong also predicts that high-end products will continue to be the mainstream of the market for a long time in the future, of which high-end neutral perfume is the segment with the highest compound annual growth rate.
Wang Wei explained that the "gender consciousness" in society has changed, and "neutral incense" or "male incense worn by women" has become a fashion, which is also one of the reasons for the high compound growth rate of high-end neutral incense, and this category is worth paying attention to in the future.
"Neutral perfume has been growing in the past 5 years, perfume is no longer the trend of following the trend, but more emphasis on self and personalization, user demand for perfume has also made the market more segmented, the national tide VS international big brand, street incense vs niche incense, each segment of the market has different consumers to pay, perfume is no longer monopolized by big brands." Yao Wenzhong, vice president of Dezhixin Northeast Asia, also agreed.
△ Yao Wenzhong, vice president of Dezhixin Northeast Asia
Coincidentally, Yingtong has recently "hunted" a number of niche incense and literary incense, such as the famous British niche fragrance brand ATKINSONS Atkinson, the perfume line of Santa Maria Novella, an ancient Italian beauty brand dating back to the 13th century; parfums de Marly Marly, a french niche high-end perfume inspired by the culture and art of the French court in the 18th century. The Group expects to introduce 10-12 brands in 2021, the largest number of brands introduced by the Group in all time.
While the mass market performance is stable, the low-price strategy can be used as a role in lowering the threshold of the perfume category, further promoting the consumption willingness of small white consumers or attracting non-category consumers to "enter".
04
Department stores remain the core, and the share of e-commerce perfumes increases to 30%
What is the difference between perfume consumption in Tao, JD.com and Douyin?
"White Paper 2.0" shows that the perfume market channels are becoming more and more diversified, but department stores are still a core channel, accounting for 55% of the overall business share. The share of perfume in e-commerce channels is getting higher and higher, from 17% in 2015 to nearly 30%.
At the press conference, Lin Jing first compared and analyzed the two platforms of Taoshi and JD.com, which are two platforms with large volumes and a high degree of data openness. In recent years, the sales distribution of the perfume market of Jingdong and Taoshi is mainly 2:8, and the compound growth rate of the Taoxiang perfume industry is relatively higher, 7 points higher than that of Jingdong, so it can be seen that in the first half of 2021, the proportion of sales of Taoshi channels has increased to a certain extent, from 80% to 83%.
First of all, the new brand is more suitable for entering the Tao system, and the international big brand is suitable for harvesting in Jingdong. Secondly, the dual platforms jointly present the trend of high-end perfume, and Taoshi also needs to pay attention to mid-market opportunities.
At the same time, the marketing rhythm of the two brand platforms also shows differentiation, the core flashpoint of the Tao system is double eleven, while Jingdong perfume users are more around the courtesy season, which may also be because mostly male users, and the perfume purchase demand driven by the gift scene is more clear.
Douyin is the third rising e-commerce platform. The press conference revealed that the perfume vertical population of the Douyin platform has reached more than 80 million, and when the platform carried out the 818 promotion, it once reached 100 million +; the sales that can be created in the live broadcast room of perfume-related products with goods every day are between 3 million and 4 million, accounting for 15% of the Douyin beauty industry.
Also because of perfume brands, especially international brands, the current wait-and-see and reservation attitude towards the layout of Douyin, domestic perfume is seizing the opportunity to grab the perfume mentality of massive users of Douyin, Bing Xili and "Dear Boyfriend" two domestic brands have broken through into the Douyin perfume industry brand exposure ranking TOP5, and the top 10 have a total of 5 domestic players.
Li Xiaojie, Senior Research Director of Kantar China Innovation & Customer Experience Business, also put forward his own observations on the development of the online perfume market. At present, Kantar has detected that multi-channel collaboration to obtain perfume information, such as in-depth content such as perfume evaluation, product introduction and sense of use sharing, has a higher degree of impact on consumers. At the same time, content, social platforms and short videos/live broadcasts have strong influence, especially live KOLs, which are highly trusted.
△Xiaojie Li, Senior Research Director of Innovation & Customer Experience Business at Kantar China
05
With the help of capital, emerging brands blossom
Oriental aesthetics and exclusive nostalgic memories break through
"For international commercial incense brands, familiar but not looking up; for salon incense brands, pursue but not blindly follow; for domestic brands, tolerant and willing to try." Li Xiaojie believes that the current perfume consumers are more confident and mature, and the consumer mentality is more open, creating a good development environment for the majority of brands.
According to Euromonitor statistics, the total of China's perfume market share ranking TOP 10 is 42%, the concentration of the entire market is acceptable, and the market contains opportunities. Many domestic and foreign capitals have seen this at the same time, and in the past 3 years, capital and beauty groups have been very active in the Chinese market.
L'Oréal, Shiseido, Estée Lauder and Puzhi alone have introduced 9 perfume brands to the Chinese market in the past three years.
Yingtong's perfume brand
At the same time, domestic cutting-edge perfume brands have also been warmly sought after by the capital market, and financing is intensive. At the press conference, "White Paper 2.0" also showed the new domestic brands that are currently popular in the market, such as Guanxia Ballio, RE Perfume Room, Smell Library, Scentooze Three Rabbits, etc.
The reason is that under the sudden increase in national self-confidence, the new domestic perfume brand relies on the profound oriental aesthetics, takes the revival of Chinese culture as its own responsibility, links the nostalgia of Chinese consumers, and makes the new brand blossom.
Local fragrance elements such as Chinese familiar bamboo / plum blossom / osmanthus flower, etc., local culture such as ancient poetry / Dream of the Red Chamber / Peking Opera Kunqu, etc., childhood nostalgic memories such as the great white rabbit milk candy, etc., are more likely to drive the mood and memory of Chinese consumers, and even attract non-perfume consumers, increasing everyone's purchase possibilities.
Under the release of the "White Paper 2.0", some domestic brands are rooted in Chinese culture, and it has been preliminarily proved that by abandoning the low-price strategy, Chinese perfume brands can also achieve commercial success.