This article is from the WeChat official account: Chopping Pepper Spicy (ID: ylwanjia), the author: Tin, the original title: "From 5000 to 400, the market of household beauty instruments has changed", and the title is from: Visual China
Article Summary
The Chinese home beauty device market has undergone significant changes, with radiofrequency beauty devices being included in the third category of medical device regulation. This change will have an impact on the market landscape.
• • The inclusion of radiofrequency beauty devices in the third category of medical device regulatory standards will raise the industry entry threshold.
• • The home beauty device market was once prosperous, but the price of radio frequency beauty devices plummeted, triggering a bottoming frenzy.
• • The beauty device market is facing a reshuffle, and brands need technology, quality, and reputation to win market competition.
Starting from April 1st, the home beauty device market has truly undergone a transformation.
According to the regulations of the National Medical Products Administration, radiofrequency beauty devices have become "Class III medical devices". It means that from April 1, 2024, the regulatory standards for radiofrequency beauty devices will be raised from "small household appliances" to "third category medical devices", and production, import, and sales are not allowed without obtaining a medical device registration certificate in accordance with the law. In other words, radiofrequency beauty devices and pacemakers are a regulatory standard.
Before the deadline, during the "buffer period" when the mountains and rain are about to come and the wind fills the building, some people sell off and leave, some run away directly, and some wait and see, fantasizing about the future of "selling more expensive with a certificate".
After the official implementation of the new regulations, there is no trace of RF beauty devices on major e-commerce platforms. In the brand's official flagship stores, products such as OGP RF, Mi Guang Collagen Cannon, Yameng ACE5/6, and Hua Zhi Xiao Zi Dan are no longer available. When talking to customer service, they also expressed that "they are currently not for sale", "they have been taken down", and "RF products are not included in the sales category". And some less formal e-commerce platforms, micro businesses, and second-hand platforms are still being explored and sold with tears in their eyes.
1、 From "Racing" to "Swinging"
From the exploratory period from 2014 to 2016, to the first year of development of home beauty devices in 2017, and then to 2018 to 2023, home beauty devices achieved a frenzy. After all, the penetration rate of the home beauty device market in Japan and the United States is 11% and 20%, while in 2020, the market data in China was only 4%, which has huge market development space.
Upon hearing the news, capital flocked to the market, with Meihua Venture Capital, Tencent Investment, Xiaomi Group, Shunwei Capital, IDG Capital, and others betting on this track. According to incomplete statistics, there were at least 28 financing events in the beauty device market from 2014 to 2023. Top players such as Miguang, JOVS, Kesimei, and Feimo have all received several rounds of financing.
It is worth mentioning that Xiaomi Group has invested in inFace, Kesimei, and Oxygen Fen, and their desire to earn money from girls is quite urgent.
Image source: Yiou Net
In the face of the hot user demand for "all girls", coupled with the trend of live streaming e-commerce, brands such as Miguang, Yameng, Zeus, Chupu, Huazhi, and JOVS have sprung up like mushrooms after rain. Even beauty brands under celebrities and internet celebrities have taken advantage of the situation to make profits. For example, Fan Beauty, a beauty brand under Fan Bingbing, has launched the UP-S beauty device, and Mo AMOUR, founded by Mo Fan, a beauty blogger, has also launched a joint beauty device with Chupu.
Looking back at that year, on the "Double 11" event in 2020, Chupu Beauty Equipment rose to fame with a GMV of over 100 million in just one hour in Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room. According to Blue Eye Intelligence's 2023 China Cosmetics Yearbook, the market size of China's beauty equipment in 2023 was 18.37 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 70%. According to the sales statistics of beauty devices on Tmall and Taobao in the first nine months of 2023, Miguang sold 1.076 billion yuan directly, accounting for 11.04% of the market share. The second one is Yameng, which sold over 1 billion yuan.
Source: Future Trail
That was the golden age of the beauty device market and the best period for the rise of beauty device brands. According to Magic Mirror Insight data, the sales of beauty devices on Tmall+Taobao platforms reached 9.7427 billion yuan in 2023, with sales reaching 20.456 million yuan. Among them, radio frequency beauty equipment, as a high priced and high profit product, has become the flagship product for almost all beauty equipment brands to increase GMV.
The 2023 White Paper on LED Beauty Device Industry Trends shows that the top 10 brands in Tmall and Taobao's home beauty industry in 2023 mainly focus on RF and LED categories, with RF beauty device products accounting for 88% and LED beauty device products accounting for 83%.
The anchors also frequently open a beauty equipment special session, and after a live broadcast, it is common for sales to exceed 10 million yuan or 100 million yuan. In the 2023 618 promotion, the Guangdong couple's live broadcast room was booming, directly creating a live broadcast record of sales of extremely cute beauty devices exceeding 150 million yuan; On the Double 11, Jia Nailiang broke the sales record of the brand Tiktok special event by explaining for 5 hours and selling more than 100 million yuan.
All of this seems to be thriving, as predicted by Zhiyan Consulting, the market size of China's home beauty devices will exceed 20 billion yuan by 2026.
From racing to swinging, all you need is a new rule.
The price of diving from over 5000 yuan to over 500 yuan, and the selling price of over 3000 yuan is directly over 200 yuan. The "cabbage price" and "diving price" are not enough to describe, they must be called "jumping price". In the flagship store of a brand in Tiktok, the RF beauty instrument even dropped to 18.3 yuan.
Although regulation has only dealt a harsh blow to radiofrequency beauty devices, it has not completely killed all beauty device products.
From the perspective of technology and principles, home beauty devices are mainly divided into five main categories: LED beauty devices, import and export beauty devices, micro current beauty devices, laser beauty devices, and RF beauty devices.
The working principle of radio frequency beauty equipment is: radio frequency energy penetrates the surface of the skin to heat the collagen fibers in the dermis, causing them to contract, thereby making the loose skin tight and achieving the effect of wrinkle removal.
Yang Rongya, Director of the Dermatology Department at the Seventh Medical Center of the General Hospital of the People's Liberation Army of China, once said, "Radio frequency has penetrability, and the power and energy of radio frequency household beauty equipment are far lower than those of large-scale medical equipment. Only through clinical trials can it be confirmed whether the product truly has its claimed effect.".
In this way, it is natural to elevate radio frequency beauty devices from "small household appliances" to "third class medical devices" and implement stricter supervision.
Image source: "2023 LED Beauty Device Industry Trends White Paper"
According to industry reports, 54% of RF products are priced between 1500 and 5000 yuan, with 13% priced above 5000 yuan. Compared with other products, the proportion of high-end prices in RF products is far ahead. When regulators seize the high priced and profitable RF beauty equipment, it is equivalent to directly seizing seven inches for unqualified beauty equipment brands. Whether one can save themselves depends on the situation.
In February, Shen Xun, the Chief Product Officer of Huazhi, stated in an interview that after the new regulations are implemented, it is expected that RF beauty devices will not be sold for several months, which will affect the company's revenue by about 40%.
2、 Crazy marketing harvesters?
The frenzy of "throwing" has directly triggered a wave of "bottom hunting in RF beauty equipment". Some people pick up leaks, while others curse: No one's money is brought by strong winds. I bought it for seven or eight thousand yuan at first, but now you're selling it for three or five hundred yuan. If you share it, you'll end up being the scapegoat yourself.
When the initial high price is spent, is it paying for crazy marketing? This is a question from many buyers.
According to industry insiders, the cost of raw materials for many beauty devices actually only accounts for 10% of the total cost, and research and development is only about 15%. Its high profit can be imagined. And how to make consumers pay? Overwhelming marketing is essential. It has been reported that radio frequency beauty equipment can even give broadcasters a commission of up to 60%.
On social platforms such as Xiaohongshu, Zhihu, and Bilibili, discussions about whether beauty equipment is an intelligence tax and other related issues continue to emerge. But for real buyers, they almost all skipped this issue. After all, ubiquitous marketing tactics such as celebrity endorsements, crazy advertising, live streaming sales, influencer seeding, and IP collaborations have already taken over the minds of users. Some media outlets claim that the rise of social media platforms has officially given domestic beauty equipment brands, which already have a complete industry chain, the opportunity to truly rise.
Taking the industry's leading brand Meguang as an example, short video seeding and influencer live streaming are several powerful tools for it to quickly capture the market.
Xiaohongshu has also become a battleground for brands. On Xiaohongshu, there are currently over 510000 notes related to beauty devices and 6700+products. If some products are implanted or exposed, who wouldn't be confused?
Image source: Xiaohongshu
At the same time, a large number of beautiful celebrities have endorsed beauty equipment, such as Yu Feihong endorsing Yameng, Nazha endorsing Sike, Tong Yao endorsing Chupu, Gong Li endorsing Jinmo, Zhou Dongyu endorsing Jimeng, and Zhou also endorsing Comper... In addition to endorsement, there are also many female celebrities, internet celebrities, and KOLs collaborating to promote their brands. When they suggest to you in front of the camera that their beauty comes from a certain beauty device and you deserve it, do you think the temptation is great?
Under high-frequency, strong, and large-scale marketing campaigns, the sales volume of major brands is steadily increasing. But what doesn't match well is the word-of-mouth from users. On the "Black Cat Complaints" platform, there are over 3500 complaints related to beauty equipment, including common complaints such as skin burns, electric leakage, poor contact, excessive heavy metals, and exaggerated effects.
Previously, when media evaluated beauty devices on the market, products that met the standards were not only completely destroyed, but also left with very few. Major brands such as Miguang and Chupu have been pushed to the forefront of public opinion due to false advertising and quality control issues, let alone small and medium-sized brands in the industry.
Image source: Black Cat Complaint
Marketing is eye-catching and deeply emotional, and behind the chaos lies inadequate regulation. In 2018, household beauty devices experienced their first tightening of regulation and were officially included in the category of small home appliance regulation; Starting from April 1st this year, household radiofrequency beauty devices have been officially included in the management of Class III medical devices. What does the formal implementation of strong regulatory policies mean?
1. The increase in industry entry barriers and the increase in product launch costs. Some small and medium-sized brands that take advantage of the heat to make money do not have strong technical and brand power, making it difficult to profit from it again. Therefore, it is inevitable to withdraw from this track.
2. The pursuit of product technology and quality has reached a new high. Under regulation, without diamond, it is difficult to handle porcelain work, which poses new requirements for the vast number of brands.
3. The contraction and stabilization of marketing. On the one hand, the model of spending a lot of money on endorsements, live streaming, and grass planting to drive sales is not easy to run; On the other hand, if a brand wants to go long-term, its investment in technology research and development will inevitably increase, and money will have to be spent on the cutting edge. It is foreseeable that in the future, the number of endorsements in the field of beauty devices will decrease, and there will be more caution in the selection of endorsers.
3、 After the melee, can the dust settle?
The new era has arrived, and the time for shuffling has arrived. Who can come to the table, who has to come down, has anyone lifted the table? All are unknowns.
Industry insiders say that the number of legally usable radiofrequency beauty devices in the Chinese market will be significantly reduced.
After all, if you want to sell radiofrequency beauty devices, you need to have a certificate and conduct clinical trials to provide scientific evidence to prove the safety and effectiveness of the product. But how difficult is it to obtain this certificate? "It usually takes 2-3 years for the brand, and investing millions of yuan may not necessarily result in success."
At present, only four clinical trial projects related to radiofrequency therapy equipment are registered with the Ministry of Science and Technology, namely Huazhi, Miguang, Yameng, and OGP Time Machine. And there is still a long way to go from filing to truly obtaining the certificate. The significant investment of money and time is not affordable for small and medium-sized brands.
Finding the next breakthrough point has become an urgent challenge for major brands.
According to data from Tmall New Product Innovation Center, from August 2022 to July 2023 alone, the growth rate of LED beauty devices in Tmall Taobao home beauty devices exceeded 1619%, while the growth rate of RF beauty devices was only 55%, indicating the rapid market response of some brands.
Some foreign brands such as Silk, Newwa, etc., see that it is not feasible in mainland China, and begin to use their existing market advantages in Hong Kong, Macao, Europe and America to sell RF beauty devices to markets outside of the new regulations. Some domestic brands are starting to target a new market: the Japanese and Korean markets.
Some people strive to improve their qualifications, some break down into new tracks and launch new products, some take risks to cut corners, and some shift positions. And who can get through the "pain period" first is competing for market reaction speed, explosive breakthrough power, product quality, and reputation.
As for who may become the leader of the next stage? The market is the best horse racing mechanism. Let's wait and see.
Content reference:
"Medical Aesthetics Competition Tightens Comprehensively | Insight Research"
"Who will fill the vacancy of household RF beauty equipment?"
"The time for shuffling has arrived, and beauty equipment brands must seek change"
"How can domestic products achieve a" big comeback "in the 20 billion dollar beauty device market?"
This article is from the WeChat official account: Chopping Pepper Spicy (ID: ylwanjia), written by Tian
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