Perfect Diary Launches Male Cosmetics Line
On July 26, Chinese unicorn beauty brand Perfect Diary announced the launch of its male product collection. The collection includes skincare such as moisturizing cleanser, gel and lotion as well as cosmetics. Perfect Diary is testing the water of the male makeup industry by introducing a light flawless tone-up cream. The average price for products from the male collection range from 49 to 250 RMB.
At the moment, the only way to purchase the new product line is through JD. Even the Mini Program that Perfect Diary guides readers to is JD’s Mini Program, not its own. To me, this shows that the brand wants to see how its male line goes. If its sales perform well, the brand will spare budget to create a separate MP. It was smart of them to choose JD.com as the majority of the platform’s users are male, unlike Tmall.
Perfect Diary has been smart to grasp trends. It introduced color contact lenses in March, and now, the brand wants to benefit from the growing male cosmetics industry.
Male Cosmetics Market is Booming in China
In fact, male cosmetics have been around since the 1920s, but remained low-key for a long time. Well, since the market for girls has become saturated, brands are searching for new growth opportunities, and they see boys are paying more attention to their looks.
The number of companies dedicated to male cosmetics is increasing in China. According to a corporation monitoring platform Qichacha (企查查), the amount of companies registering in a year has grown from 1,105 in 2017 to 3,141 in 2020.
Not only more players are joining the industry, but also many investors see opportunities in it and actively investing in those companies. A domestic male skincare brand Make Essense (理然), founded in 2019, has received six rounds of investment so far, among which, the highest amount was up to 300 million RMB. Not long ago, Bilibili showed up in the brand’s info as one of its stakeholders.
Since 2017, there have been over 18 financing cases in the male cosmetics industry, with a total amount of over 1.8 billion RMB. Heads up, 11 of those 18 happened in 2020.
What Type of Consumers are Buying?
Based on a male consumer behavior report published by QuestMobile, over 185 million males are following beauty KOLs. People who age 25 to 30 make up 25.2%, and people who aged over 45 make up 13.5%. That leaves Gen Z as the main consumption group.
Another report which shows the trend of the development of domestic beauty brands indicates that the consumption of male cosmetics through online channels grew 24.5% in 2019. The GMV that male cosmetics shoppers contributed grew 41.5% on Tmall in the same year.
Over 60% of men buy skincare products on their own and the number of men buying cosmetics products is 20%. Only 2.5% of men have the habit to wear makeup daily. But this percentage is growing. It is estimated that the rate of growth for the Chinese male cosmetics market is 13.5%, which is twice the scale of the global market.
Why There Is No Unicorn Male Cosmetics Brand Yet?
Men’s habits of consuming cosmetics is still in very early stages
Though people are getting open with men having skincare routines and putting makeup on, the majority are still conservative towards it. Men don’t have the habit yet, and are in a period of testing and trying out.
There is no top beauty KOL whose majority of fans are males
You might say what about top live streamer Austin Li? He tests the colors of thousands of lipsticks in front of the public. But most of his followers are females. They are not boys.
Male beauty KOLs whose majority of fans are males haven’t shown up. No one is there to educate Chinese males about cosmetics.
A failed example
In autumn 2018, a male grooming brand HOUSE 99, co-founded by David Beckham and L’Oréal entered the Chinese market, bearing the hope to benefit from the male cosmetics market. Its presence was mainly online, both on JD and Tmall. However, HOUSE 99 exited the Chinese market in less than 3 years.
Someone needs to educate Chinese male consumers about cosmetics and how to use them before any brands can profit from the market.
Who are Perfect Diary’s Competitors In The Male Cosmetics Industry?
Though male cosmetics is a New World waiting to be developed, there are already many players joining the trend.
Dior, Armani, Chanel, Tom Ford, SK-II and many other international beauty brands have launched their male collections, including skincare and makeup products. L’Oréal has two brands dedicating to the industry, Biotherme Homme and L’Oréal Men Expert. They are smart to directly name the brand with “men” in it, letting consumers know they are brands serving men.
Besides international brands, Chinese brands are emerging and booming. Martin, Make Essense and dearBOYfriend. However, I think one thing that they fail to achieve is to show they are a male cosmetics brand from their names. Simply reading their Chinese names won’t let consumers know what this brand is doing.
While it is a long way ahead for men to form their skincare and makeup habits, Perfect Diary takes a shortcut. It directly skips the process of education, as the brand hands it over to men’s partners, aka women who are their existing customers. They encourage their female customers buy the new male products and send them as a Qixi (Chinese Valentine’s Day) gift to the men in their life.
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