Formulae, textures, functions, claims … and price: the cosmetics that are successful in China are not necessarily similar to those marketed in the Western world. Some adaptations may be needed. This is the message, along with some advice, that the experts gave the audience, during the Cosmed 3rd International Meetings, dedicated to China.
Do you know whom you are dealing with? By asking this question at the very beginning of her presentation, Florence Bernardin, whose the Information & Inspiration Agency helps companies understand Asian markets, sets the tone: a good knowledge of the Chinese consumer, mainly of the female consumer and of her expectations, is unavoidable to succeed when exporting to China.
Female Chinese consumer, who are you?
As Mao Zedong said, half of the sky belongs to women. This has probably never been so true than nowadays: 45.4% of the Chinese workers are female; 25% of the entrepreneurs are women.
It is in the young generation of these active women that the most important potential for exporting cosmetic products lies. Highly educated, open-minded, thirsty for novelties, self-confident and independent, these 20- to 30-year old Chinese women have far more important resources than their elders, and are prone to spend to follow the trends. After the somber years of the Cultural Revolution, when the female beauty had no value, the young Chinese woman revives the old traditions of the “princesses of beauty”, accompanying them with new codes.
The beauty “à la Chinese”
Nowadays, the perfect beauty has porcelain-like skin, smooth and with a …
