At Cosmed’s International Congress last December 15, 2014, Tommy Kong, General Manager of Cosmetic Division of REACH24H Consulting Group, presented the Chinese cosmetic market and the main aspects to be aware of when exporting there.
China has a surface area of 9.6 billion km2, which represents more than two times the surface of the European territory.
It counts 1.34 billion inhabitants, around 2.6 times the population of Europe. 49.68% of them live in towns, 50.35% are rural, and incomes vary a lot: on average, 26,955 yens per month for the former, 8,896 for the latter.
The common structure of the Chinese family is of 3 (two parents + one child) + 2 (grandparents on the father’s side) + 2 (grandparents on the mother’s side) members. And if tradition requires each household to ‘save money for the kids’, analysts forecast that the disposable incomes in each household will keep increasing.
It is a huge market for all consumer goods, including cosmetics, whose sales were estimated at 162.5 billion yens (18.75 billion euros) in 2013.
China cosmetics regulatory scheme
To Tommy Kong, there are six must-know key points before trying to enter the Chinese market.
1. Pre-market approval
All the imported cosmetic products and domestically manufactured special use products are subject to pre-market review by CFDA (China Food & Drug Administration).
This pre-market review scheme was established in 1990 through the implementation of the umbrella law, the Regulation of Hygienic Supervision …
