China focus: Latest developments in China’s booming beauty market

Skin, fragrance, luxury hair categories set to lead growth in China reopening – Estée Lauder CEO​

Estée Lauder Companies president and CEO Fabrizio Freda has pegged skin care, fragrance, and luxury hair care as key drivers of growth in China as it moves away from last year’s COVID-19 troubles.

Now that the country is reopening, the company was expecting the business to “accelerate on all fronts”​ particularly as brick-and-mortar recovers, said Freda during the firm’s most recent earnings conference.

Going into specific categories, he said that the firm expected a tremendous acceleration in the skin care category.

China’s zero-COVID policy drives down LG H&H beauty business in 2022​

South Korean major LG Household & Health Care (LG H&H) has attributed the 27.7% sales decline of its beauty business mainly to the disruptions brought about by Beijing’s zero-COIVD policy.

The firm attributed the decline to its performance in China.

The company said the “unstable market conditions” ​brought about by Beijing’s zero-COIVD policy ultimately dragged down the beauty business in China​, including online and in travel retail.

L’Occtiane en Provence sales dip attributed to COVID-19 challenges in China, Japan​

Hong Kong-listed L’Occitane International’s flagship brand recorded a sales dip of 0.9% in the nine months ending December 2022 due to challenges related to COVID-19 in China and Japan.

It highlighted that China saw a low-teens per cent decline at constant rates in Q3. Excluding China, APAC grew by 7.0% at constant rates over the nine months.

However, the company said this slump was temporary and expected its performance to improve moving forward.

Atelier Rebul aims to bring bespoke services to China when it expands offline​​

A 128-year-old Turkish fragrance house is set to expand offline in China in 2023 and is planning to offer its signature bespoke services to cater to the heightened appreciation for “personalisation and craftsmanship”.

Co-CEO Nuket Filiba believes these two elements will be driving trends in the fragrance market, particularly in China.

“This is a service we offer in our heritage store in Turkey. We’re planning to bring that to China as well because that heritage and craftsmanship is very much appreciated there,” ​she told CosmeticsDesign-Asia.

LG H&H to focus on China and N. America to ‘leap forward’ as a global cosmetics company in 2023​

South Korean multinational LG Household & Health Care will be emphasising on its business in China and North America in a bid to reinforce its presence on the global stage.

In her new year’s address, the firm’s new president and CEO Lee Jung-ae noted that reinforcing its international position was one of its key initiatives for the new year.

Lee highlighted aspirations for the company to “leap forward” ​as a global luxury beauty company. In particular, the company has two major targets: China and North America.