With Brand Enterprises Releasing Male Cosmetics, Has the Spring of Male Beauty Products Arrived?

Huang Cuifen

MZTOUTIAO

Recently, the advanced male beauty care brand HOUSE 99 jointly developed by L'Oreal Group and David Beckham formally entered China and Jingdong Beauty Makeup on the same day. At the same time, L'Oreal Group and Tmall jointly released White Paper about China's Male Beauty Care Market(hereafter called White Paper).

According to White Paper, China's online male beauty care market is growing rapidly, with the increase rate exceeding 50% for two consecutive years. The quantity of male beauty care products is increasing and the brands are becoming more and more advanced. The brands specific for males are becoming even more popular.

Male beauty products are increasing rapidly and becoming more diversified

Now, with more stars endorsing male cosmetics,an increasing number of male consumers have gradually accepted cosmetics and the varieties they use have gradually upgraded from fundamental skincare to cosmetics. They also have more demands about varieties of makeup.

According to the big data analysis of Baidu, the male cosmetics industry was growing steadily in 2017, with the daily average search amount being 0.11 million. To be amazing, the proportion of search words associated with male cosmetics rose from 14%in 2016 to 19% in 2017, with a year-on-year increase of 14%. So makeup is more and more acceptable to male consumers.

At the same time, the data showed that the male consumers were increasingly caring about make-up details. In the fundamental cleaning process, the attention of male consumers to blackhead increased by 46%. As to functions of facial cream, the attention to whitening & spot lighting increased by 44%. At the same time, the attentions of male consumers to facial mask, lotion, toner and sunscreen cream were also increasing. Even the sales volumes of eye creams and essences were increasing rapidly.

In addition, the research showed that as compared to unisex cosmetics, male consumers were fonder of cosmetics specific for males. According to Trend Consumption Report about Men of 18-35 released during Taobao New Power Week, males born in 1985-1989 and males born in 1990-1999 bought 1.20 million men's BB creams and more than 0.35 million men's eyebrow pencils through Taobao in the past year. Moreover, men's lipstick, cosmetics set and sunscreen cream have become cosmetics which are very popular among male consumers.

The brand enterprises are releasing male cosmetics successively

Therefore, China's consumer markets about male cosmetics cannot be neglected. As a result, more and more brands are releasing cosmetics specific for males.

On May 19, 2018, CHANDO called a new product release conference in Shanghai, announcing the formal release of its male products. Different from the common cologne fragrance suitable for European and American males, the flavors of male products in CHANDO are inspired by glaciers, forests and soil of the Himalaya. Natural, wild and vigorous, they are specifically designed for Chinese males. Shen Wei, Variety Director of the Market Department of CHANDO said frankly, “CHANDO Male is striving to become the top brand for local males by 2020 through three years of market exploitation.”

In addition, in August 2018, the luxury brand CHANEL also released its first male cosmetics series.The products were expected to be sold at its official website in November of 2018 and to be sold in stores in January 2019.

L'Oreal Group has five male brands, namely,L'Oreal Male, Biotherm, Kiehls, Clary and the all new brand HOUSE 99, which has come into the Chinese market recently. Stephane, CEO of L'Oreal China said that the new brand HOUSE 99 would be complementary to other male brands subordinate to the group. In the future, apart from the above five brands, the group would continue to improve brand portfolios in the field of male beauty care so as to meet the growing demands of the consumers.

Men born in 1995-1999 are more delicate and have a preference for products specific for males

As the younger generation gradually becomes the consumption major force of the market, men born in 1995-1999 have displayed a more individualized consumption habit and will guide the consumption for the future 5-10 years. They will pay more attention to the “face”. According to 2017 Tendency Report about the Consumption of Beauty Products and Personal Skincare Products in China, perfume and male makeup cosmetics are beauty products more preferential to beauty-loving men born in 1995-1999.

Men born in 1995-1999 know how to care about their own demands, have higher requirements about product functions and pay attention to the using effect. These are the three important features of their consumptions. According to the investigation, 82%of men born in 1995-1999 have a clear understanding of their skins. The understanding degree about skins(including dry/oily skin, sensitive skin, pox skin, etc)is gradually increasing. 68% of men born in 1995-1999 will care about the using effect of skincare products, namely, whether they have the effect of long-acting oil control, enduring moisturizing and whitening. In terms of subdivided varieties, nearly half of men born in 1995-1999 are using sunscreen creams, toners, facial masks, lotions and facial creams. So the skincare procedures for men born in 1995-1999 are more subdivided and complete.

Men born in 1995-1999 are no longer using the universal Dabao as in the past, nor will they pick up bottles of their girl friends randomly. On the contrary,the concept of “skincare product for males” has taken root in the hearts of men born in 1995-1999. In terms of selecting skincare products, they will target at products specific for males. They generally think that men's skins are quite different from women's skins,and products specific for males are more suitable for men's skins.

it's not easy to seize a share in male cosmetics markets

Although the market is growing rapidly and has a broad development prospect, it is not easy to gain a share in China's male cosmetics market. In 2001,UNO subordinated to Shiseido entered China's male skincare markets. As a rare male brand subordinated to Shiseido, it had been given much thought to by Shiseido Group.

In 2010, Shiseido engaged four Japanese super male stars —Tsumabuki Satoshi, Shun Oguri,Miura Haruma and Eita—to endorse its products.As a result, its products were out of stock in Japan.However, UNO's performance in China's markets has never lived up to our expectations. In 2015, many agents canceled their agent cooperation relations with UNO successively and UNO has gradually faded out of the Chinese offline markets.

According to relevant data, although male cosmetics are increasing over the years and maintaining a strong growth momentum, the market share of male skincare products only account for less than 10%. The base number is too small. Moreover, due to problems such as identical product packages and single effect, male cosmetics are not well approved among consumers.

Whether in offline supermarkets or cosmetics stores, the displaying proportions of male cosmetics are smaller than those of ordinary cosmetics so the male consumers have few choices. In addition,although male cosmetics are becoming more diversified,the offline channels are still dominated by facial cleaning products. Other skincare products and makeup cosmetics are rare to be seen.

On market investigation, many consumers say that male cosmetics have major functions such as oil control, acne treatment and refreshing but lack more subdivided functions such as whitening, moisturizing andblackhead removal. It is another reason why male cosmetics do not sell well.

With more and more brands entering the male cosmetics markets, the competition is becoming increasingly fierce. With tremendous changes in the male consumers today, they are becoming more and more critical about male cosmetics. Therefore, brand products should change themselves by catering to the consumers. Only through looking into the consumers'demands can they gain a firm foothold in the evergrowing male cosmetics markets.