China Beauty Expo readies for its 20th anniversary edition

One of the biggest beauty events in the world will open its doors in Shanghai next month. And stressing its size, this year the China Beauty Expo will be showcasing more than 3,000 brands.

The event will take place from 19 – 21 May at the Shanghai New International Expo Center and will be highlighting some of the most innovative and ground-breaking products to recently enter into the massive China consumer market.

According to latest statistics from iResearch that are flagged up by China Beauty Expo organiser Informa, the China cosmetics market was valued at RMB404.4 billion ($65bn) in 2014.

And with the annual growth rate for the industry expected to remain above 20% for the next five years, that means it is expected to be worth a staggering RMB700 billion by 2017 – a figure that makes the race for cosmetics companies to increase their footprint in the market, all the more compelling.

Events don’t come much bigger…

This year Informa expects the event to host more than 2,000 exhibitors, that will include 7,000 booths over the 150,000 square metres of exhibition space at the expo center.

As well as hosting many up and coming brands in the market, an increasing number of which are home-grown companies, the event will also platform renowned international players, including L’Oreal, P&G, Intercos Technology and Cosmax.

As for visitors; some 250,000 trade professionals are expected to attend, with an emphasis on the sector’s distribution channels that will mean representation from e-commerce, department stores, shopping malls and specialty stores.

Retail summit and mobile congress

In line with the emphasis on the commercial aspect of the industry, the event will stage a Retail Summit that will host 1,000 of the leading beauty retailers in the country, with the summit focusing on various trends relating to this area, and the specific theme “Re-designing the Retail Ecosystem”.

Mobile e-commerce has also taken the China market by storm, which is reflected by the Mobile Congress, which will look at this rapidly emerging channel.

In particular, the Mobile Congress will look at the most important channel within this category; WeChat, the social media and commercial tool that is taking the country by storm.

Brands, trends and anti-aging congress

The event will also platform brand development with the Asian Brand Building Lab, which is new to the event this year, featuring a dedicated area on the show floor for new and emerging Asian beauty brands to stand out from the competition.

Also not to be missed will be the Beyond Beauty Trends program, featuring the latest global beauty trends, the China Professional Beauty and Anti-aging Congress.

Proving that the show covers every aspect of the supply chain, it will also include the Beauty Ingredients & Formulation Shanghai 2015 – designed to facilitate networking focused on the latest technology and market information for this segment.

And to emphasise that the event covers all bases of the research and development arena, the event will also hold the 2015 International Technology Summit, which will feature some of the leading experts in the fields of technology and science.