Beauty Product Samples and Travel Sizes are a Hot Commodity in China
Giving out samples is extremely common in the beauty industry. In the US and Europe, consumers can often ask for samples without purchasing an item, however in China brands only tend to give out samples after a consumer has already purchased a full-sized product.
Because of this, a market has arisen for sample and travel-sized products.
At the beginning of 2021, Tmall opened a pop-up store in Hangzhou. What makes it different was that the store sold samples of beauty products instead of full-sized products. Samples of many brands such as DECORTÉ and Helena Rubinstein quickly sold out.
Sample Stores are Growing in China
There are a few popular stores that focus on beauty samples:
1. HARMAY (话梅)
At the moment, HARMAY has 5 stores in China, and they are in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu (成都) and Hong Kong. Customers often need to wait in a long line until they get in. The store also has lots of buzz on Xiaohongshu and Bilibili. HARMAY managed to be valued at 5 billion RMB in its recent financing.
2. HAYDON (黑洞)
The store was opened on the last day of 2020 in Wuhan. It quickly became popular on Xiaohongshu with consumers calling it a “high-end beauty store” (高端美妆店) and a “Heaven of Samples” (小样天堂). It includes many international brands, such as La Mer, SK-II, Lancôme, Chanel and Armani.
3. The Colorist (调色师)
This is an old friend of China Marketing Insights. Check out our in-store video to learn more about the brand. When it was first founded in 2019, it focused on normal-size beauty products. Recently, it launched a sample section, including samples from over 30 brands such as Estée Lauder, Kiehl’s, KISS ME and CANMAKE.
Why are Samples so Popular among Chinese Consumers?
1. Consumers love trying new products
Before buying a beauty product, especially skincare products or foundation, I would really like to spend a way smaller amount of money on samples to see if the products works well with my skin condition or if the shade of the foundation suits my skin colour. Consumers also love trying out new products without spending too much.
2. Brands are trying to find new ways to reach potential customers
In many brands’ Tmall flagship stores, brands often send samples to people who register to join its membership. This has proven to be a low-cost way to acquire new customers.
If consumers find that the product works very well with their skin, they are likely to buy the normal-size product.
3. Multi brand stores are using samples from international brands to attract consumers
As mentioned above, in China, usually you have to purchase a product from a brand so that you can have samples, but many consumers would rather just have the sample. Many multi brand retailers are using samples to get consumers in the door.
Winning Samples for Social Media Engagement
Many brands give samples as prizes to drive social media engagement. Social media platform Xiaohongshu even has a product sample giveaway feature where consumers have to follow the brand’s account, like the post, and save the post and they will automatically be entered into the drawing.
There are also many posts on Xiaohongshu where users share the best places to find product samples.
The Future of Beauty Samples + Issues
Samples’ target consumers are people who are interested in the normal-size product but want to try it out first, or people with lower budget. Though consumers have the potential to buy the normal-size product after they’ve tried out samples, the number who actually do is still small.
Another problem is authenticity. In most cases, the international brands don’t work directly with the sample stores. At the end of January, beauty store OnlyWrite was investigated because some of its products were imported to Mainland China without following customs procedures.
It’s hard for consumers to know whether samples sold in a beauty store are legal or not, or are authentic or not. If they are not authentic, those samples are likely to ruin the reputation of a brand.
Read more: 白菜价到大牌产品，“小样经济”会不会是下一个风口？｜案例精选
