COVID’s Long-Lasting Effect on the Chinese Beauty Industry

With China having quickly gotten the pandemic under control, you may be thinking that any effect COVID had on the beauty industry has already disappeared and consumer preferences have gone back to pre-COVID times. But that’s not entirely true. People are still wearing masks in many public places such as shopping malls, public transportation, offices, etc. Therefore, COVID is still having an effect the beauty industry

What are some of the key changes and how are brands and influencers adapting? 

Offline beauty stores are suffering from people’s wearing face masks

Before Covid, when girls met, they used to ask each other what shade of lipstick they were wearing, but now this is not the case. Because their mouth is hidden under a mask, Chinese consumers are no much less enthusiastic about purchasing lipstick. Now, if they really want to purchase lipsticks, they choose cheap ones. In some ways this shift could actually benefit for many of the lower-priced Chinese brands. 

Xinyu (馨语), a YSL beauty advisor who works in Hangzhou (杭州) has been working in the beauty retail industry for over 10 years and 2020 was the hardest year that she has ever experienced. Lipsticks used to account for 60% of YSL Beauty’s sales and they were top choices for boys who want to buy gifts for girls.

The store that Xinyu is assigned to used to have huge foot traffic. In a nearly 25-square-metre store, there were 10 beauty advisors. Though COVID has gotten better, people still hesitate to take off their face masks in crowded shopping areas, not to mention trying on lipsticks which have been touched by so many BAs and customers. 

Beauty influencers are seeking new content

For some girls, wearing a face mask means that they don’t have to wear any makeup, which caused makeup tutorials to become not as popular as before.

Beauty influencers took a variety of measures to adapt to this new environment:

1. Some beauty influencers still focus on makeup tutorials. However, this time, they shift their content to teach followers how to preserve their makeup and keep it from not getting ruined after wearing a mask. 

2. Focus on eye makeup. Since eyes and the forehead are the only two parts that are exposed, people emphasize their eye makeup. 

3. Focus more on skincare. By wearing a mask, people’s skin can’t breathe and it leads to breakouts or sensitive skin. As a result, many consumers want to know how to calm down their skin or how to erase those pimples caused by wearing a mask for too long.

4. Change to become food influencers. Many beauty KOLs start adding food content in their posts. For example, visiting popular restaurants or cooking at home.

Examples of brands that were less affected by COVID-19:

M.A.C.

MAC performed better than many international brands. First, compared with some high-end international brands, its products, especially its lipsticks, are more affordable. To cater to the current situation, MAC launched a matte lipstick collection which can last for a very long time. 

One of the iconic products from MAC is its omega contour. It’s already very popular before Covid for its colour which is very suitable for Asian girls’ skin colour. Now that consumers’ main focus are eyes and noses, the omega contour, which is often applied to shape the nose, got very popular. Before Covid, the number of omega contours that a Hangzhou store sold in a month was around 300 to 400. And after Covid, the number rose to 600 to 700 for just one store in a month.

On top of that, MAC also changed its product displays. It used to showcase its iconic lipsticks at front, where customers can spot at the first glance of the store, and now, it places eyeshadow palettes instead.

Winona

Other than MAC, some Chinese brands are performing well. Over the past year, Chinese sensitive skincare brand Winona shifted its main marketing focus to online engagement. It invited dermatology professors to livestream and answer viewers’ questions regarding skin problems.

It also created a lot of content related to wearing masks. For example, since people have to wear face masks for a long time, their skin tend to become sensitive and have acne issues. Based on this trend, Winona recommended its anti-sensitive extreme moisturizing cream to consumers.

During the lockdown, people stayed at home and some of them go to bed really late since they were working from home and didn’t have to go to the office in the morning. But that resulted in bad skin, so Winona was there again, giving them product recommendations. And since people are washing their hands more, Winona’s hand cream has become more popular.

Little Ondine

Cosmetics brand Little Ondine is known for its eyeliner and mascara. This year it has been heavily recommending those two products by saying girls need to be sophisticated even while wearing face masks.

The effect of COVID on the beauty industry can still be felt even as life has largely gone back to normal. We are curious to see if Chinese consumers’ passion for lipstick will return or if the uptick in eye makeup and skincare spending will last long term.

Read more: 一只口罩，打败了“李佳琦”