Beauty Apparatus Segment Set off A Wave of Upsurge

By Jenny Hu

Compared with expensive medical beauty programs that require regular care， smart and portable beauty devices that can be operated at home are popular. Although all kinds of doubts in the industry exist， the beauty instrument industry still cannot be stopped and is demonstrating strong development momentum.

Beauty apparatus companies obtain frequent investment

With the awakening of peoples anti-aging consciousness and drive of the Internet platform， the domestic beauty instrument market set off a wave of upsurge， and capital frequently appeared in the beauty instrument segment. According to Qichacha data， investment and financing situation shows that there are 23 financing events related to beauty instrument in China， involving a total of 9 brands， with the total disclosed financing amount exceeding RMB 535 million.

In terms of the disclosed financing amount related to beauty instruments， the top three brands are “CosBeauty， Amiro and Femooi Technology”， which are also the brands with the most rounds of financing. Among them， CosBeauty has received 4 rounds of financing with a total disclosed financing amount over RMB 210 million. Shenzhen CosBeauty Technology mainly researches and produces womens health beauty instruments， with current main products including Skin Touch skin hardware and software equipment， IPL photon hair remover and RF skin vitality instrument. The company was founded in 2013 and its investors include Xiaomi Technology， Shunwei Capital， Xinzhiyuan and Shenzhen Capital Group.

Amiro has raised five rounds of financing with a total disclosed fi-nancing amount of RMB 115 million. Amiro started out with intelligent beauty mirror products， and successively launched products like hair removal instruments， electric toothbrushes， face wash instruments and radio frequency beauty instruments. Its company Shenzhen Zongjiang Technology was founded in 2015， and its rapid rise has reliedon the support of capital. Among Amiros shareholders， the most eye-catching are Tencent， Xiaomi Group and Zhenfund.

In July 2021， IDG Capital exclusively invested in the beauty instrument brand Femooi； the emerging brand BIOLAB also completed a new round of financing led by Tiantu Investment this year； the beauty care brand inFace has raised tens of millions during capital-ledpre-A round of financing. Among them， Femooi Technology obtained a total of three rounds of financing with a total disclosed financing amount of more than RMB 70 million. Femooi technology focuses on high-end household beauty products. At present， there are mainly two instrument product lines of cleansing instruments and water light instruments， which are combined with essence liquid， mask and other matching skin care products. Its company Ningbo Femooi Intelligent Technology Co.， Ltd. engages in home beauty instrument design， development and production driven by practical science and technology， and IDG capital is one of its investors.

It is worth mentioning that from the perspective of investors， the Xiaomi Group and Shunwei Capital are the most frequent buyers， with investment in such brands as Amiro， CosBeauty， InFace and Yangfen. Xiaomi Technology has invested in 4 beauty instrument brands， and Shunwei Capital in 3 brands. Throughout the financing process of various projects， there are 5 brands， namely more than half， in the early financing stage.

In addition， giant companies are flocking into the beauty instrument market too： this blue ocean market attracted many competitors； Haier has announced the launch of beauty products； Xiaomi and Lenovo are also exploring the field of beauty and makeup. In February 2021， Huawei launched two beauty devices supporting HUAWEI HiLink system in Huawei shopping mall. The competition remains high and there is no telling who will bethe dark horse.

Qichacha data shows that there are 84，000 enterprises related to the production of beauty instruments in China， and they have all come about very recently： 47，000 enterprises， accounting for 56.0% of the total， were established in the past three years.

From the growth trend of the registration of beauty instrument related enterprises， the number of registrations in the past three years exceeded 15，000， among which 17，100 were newly added in 2018， 24，200 in 2019， 16，700 in 2020 and 7，000 in the first half of this year.

In terms of regional distribution， Qichacha data shows that Guangdong Province has the largest number of beauty instrument related enterprises， up to 22，000 enterprises. Shandong Province ranked second with 9，000 enterprises， followed by Jiangsu， Shanghai and Zhejiang. Beijing is also among the top 10 with 3，000 enterprises.

Home beauty apparatus market ushers in explosive development

At present， more and more hightech instruments are entering beauty salons， and beauty instruments have experienced one and another update with instruments that were previously only huge and in salons， becoming smaller and medium-sized， and now angling towards being small and micro instruments. Instrument function evolved from single hair removal and whitening gradually to multi-purpose with maturing functions. With the development of science and technology， applicationsin beauty instruments bring increasingly diverse and elaborate functions.

Tmall data shows that in 2020 the household beauty instrument market size in China reached RMB 6 billion to RMB 8 billion， with a compound annual growth rate of 30%. In a sample survey of female Internet users between the ages of 20 and 49， 59% said they used at least one household beauty device. At the same time， with the entry of international brands and local brands， the home beauty instrument market demonstrates explosive development. In 2021， the market size of beauty instruments in China is expected to approach RMB 10 billion. Household beauty devices are becoming the new favorite of young consumers in particular.

According to data provided by Tmall， pre-orders for TriPollar， a household beauty device brand owned by the medical beauty giant Lumenis， exceeded 26，000 units within the first hour of the 618 pre-sale， making it the hottest item in the first hour of presale and the Top 3 favorite item of the post-90s generation during 618， only second to the iPhone.

Industry insiders point out that consumer demand awakening hastened industry coevolution. According to the 2021 Medical Beauty Insights Report of the Post-1995 Generation released by the Mob Research Institute in May this year， nearly 80% of the post-1995 generation has appearance anxiety. Among them， 15.8% have moderate anxiety about their appearance， another 4.5% have severe anxiety about their appearance， saying that they are very dissatisfied with their appearance and want to do partake inmedical beauty programs to improve their appearance.

As of 2013， two brands Foreo and Clarisonic， which are representatives of the cleaning beauty instruments， entered the Chinese market. Since then， the Chinese household beauty instrument market has been developing at a high speed with an annual compound growth rate of 11%. In 2015， Japanese brands such as YAMAN， ReFa， Foreo and Panasonic poured into the Chinese market and quickly occupied the main share of the high-end beauty instrument market.

When competition among imported brands from Japan， the United States， Sweden and Israel is coming in， domestic brands such as Mushu， K.skin， Danlong， CosBeauty also saw business opportunities and joined in.

Domestic brands are noticeably younger. According to data from the China State Grid， there are more than 100，000 companies related to beauty instruments， of which over 80% were registered in the past five years. For example， mesmooth， BIOLAB， and Yangfen were founded in 2019， while Femooi and inFace in 2017.

According to a report from Qianzhan Industry Research Institute， the average price of the major beauty instrument brands in the market varied greatly， with the average price of overseas brands normally higher than that of domestic brands. The average price of Japanese brands Dr. Arrivo and YA-MAN beauty instrument was RMB 8，839.15 and RMB 4，259.14 respectively. Chinese local brands mostly nudge into the market with high cost performance， and the average price of products is about RMB 300～500.

CBN Data consumer big data showed that in 2020， among the online products of anti-aging beauty instrument for women， the consumption quantity of anti-aging beauty instrument with a unit price of over RMB 3，000 showed explosive growth. Beauty instruments in middle-and high-end market promise tremendous demand potential.

Industry supervision needs to be strengthened

However， with the rapid development of this market， there are a lot of consumer complaints on the complaint platform， such as the existence of safety risks， quality defects， misleading propaganda of functions and excessive marketing. In addition， the lack of industry standards is also a major bottleneck of the current beauty instrument industry.

According to the China State Grid， standards related to household beauty devices in China are mainly for small household appliances， which mainly involves GB4706.1 Household and Similar Electrical Appliances Safety— General Requirements，GB/ T36419-2018 Household and Similar Skin Devicesand GB4706.15 Household and Similar Electrical Appliances Safety Skin and Hair Care Equipment Special Requirements.

Relevant analysis points out that due to unclear positioning before， products of household beauty devices always follow small household appliance product standards， resulting in a disordered market for a long time.

However， even for the professional agency standard GB/T36419-2018 for Household and Similar Skin Beauty Devices， formulated specifically for household beauty instruments， the specific details only involve the superficial properties and items， such as temperature rise， noise， material and electromagnetic compatibility. In terms of the efficacy judgment that consumers are more concerned about， it is recommended to rely on third-party evaluation， relevant literature or enterprise evaluation.

For the development of beauty instrument brands， to enhance the professional level has been a top priority and to meet the existing standards is a must for the brands to survive and grow. The concentration effect of the industry will become more and more obvious， and leading brands will usher in the opportunities for further development.

According to industry insiders， in terms of the regulatory scope， radio frequency RF products recently developed rapidly and urgently need standard updates and iteration. But given that the current development of RF is not only in the field of medical beauty， but also living beauty and home beauty， the standards shall take into account development of the beauty instrument in the future， cannot simply follow the previous medical equipment.

In April 2021， National Medical Products Administration issued a notice to solicit comments on the Guiding Principles for the Classification and Definition of Radio-frequency Beauty Products （Draft）， stating：in order to guide the management attribute and management category determination of radio-frequency cosmetic products， this principle is formulated in accordance with the Regulations on Supervision and Management of Medical Devices， Classification Rules of Medical Devices and Classification Catalogue of Medical Devices.

It can be predicted that the development of the beauty instrument industry will tend to be more professional and standardized with strict requirements， which is more conducive to sound development and orderly competition of companies.