In recent years, with the improvement of residents’ consumption power and changes in consumption concepts, “beautifying” has gradually become a necessity for some consumers.
The appearance industry chain continues to extend, various new consumption scenarios continue to emerge, and the output value of the appearance economy is becoming more and more abundant.
After the Spring Festival, there was a "manicure-removal craze" in nail salons. One manicurist laughed and said, "Before the New Year, there were endless nail patches, and after the New Year, there will be endless nails-removal." This is a continuation of the "manicure climax" before the holiday.
Just like doing manicures, buying new clothes, perming and dyeing hair, getting medical treatments... During important New Year moments, people always choose to dress themselves up, which also makes the appearance economy particularly prosperous during the Spring Festival of the Year of the Dragon.
It is precisely a series of consumer industries developed around appearance that satisfy consumers’ pursuit of beauty.
The most common ones are cosmetics and skin care, hair and body care, medical beauty and fitness and other industries.
With the improvement of residents' consumption power and the change of consumption concepts, "becoming beautiful" has gradually become a rigid need of some consumers. The appearance industry chain continues to extend, and the output value of the appearance economy is becoming more and more sufficient.
The track of good-looking products is hot
Recently, a reporter walked into a large shopping mall in Beijing. The counters for cosmetics, shoes, hats, clothing, and jewelry were crowded with people choosing their favorite beauty products.
A salesperson of beauty products told reporters: "From the initial oil-based nail polish, to the later peel-off nail polish, to the latest popular nail stickers in the past two years, there are endless products to make nails beautiful. Update and iterate.”
In order to meet the increasingly diversified and personalized consumption needs of consumers, iterative upgrades of good-looking consumer products continue to accelerate, and various subdivisions continue to rise.
At the same time, trends such as product technology and lightweight form are gradually emerging.
For example, the hot sales of home beauty devices and home hair removal devices allow consumers to DIY at home to achieve basic beauty and body beauty.
New products are constantly being introduced, consumers continue to be excited, and the popularity of the cosmetics market remains high.
The "2024-2025 China Cosmetics Market Operation Status and Development Trend Research Report" released by iiMedia Consulting shows that in 2023, the market size of my country's cosmetics industry will be approximately 516.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.4%, and is expected to increase to 579.1 billion yuan in 2025 .
Various places are also actively seizing the opportunity of the beauty economy and promoting the transformation of beauty into output value.
Taking Shandong as an example, aiming at the development of the cosmetics industry, Shandong proposed the "Beauty Shandong" plan to open up a new economic development track for beauty products.
Shandong Pingdu has discovered business opportunities from false eyelashes favored by female consumers.
At first, there were only two or three single styles of false eyelashes, but now, Pingdu produces daily-use false eyelashes such as "Sunflower", "Baby Curve" and "Fairy Hair", each with its own characteristics.
There are thousands of varieties depending on the material, length, curl, and usage scenarios.
At present, the output value of flat false eyelashes has exceeded 10 billion yuan, becoming the benchmark for the national and even global eyelash industry market.
Beauty service develops rapidly
In addition to purchasing good-looking products, more and more consumers are keen to make themselves more beautiful through services such as manicure and eyelashes, medical cosmetology, and personal training and fitness. Good-looking services have become one of the emerging growth points in the current service industry.
Hu Yan (pseudonym), a 35-year-old Chongqing woman, is a "fashionista" who goes to a hair salon to get her hair done every three months on average and undergoes medical beauty treatments every two months.
Hu Yan said that everyone has a love for beauty. As she gets older and her physical condition changes, she is willing to spend more money to fill the "shortcomings" in appearance.
At present, the medical beauty service industry is developing rapidly and is gradually expanding its territory to the male market and third- and fourth-tier cities.
Before the Spring Festival, Zhao Zhouyi (pseudonym) from Dezhou, Shandong Province decided not to wait and see anymore and started an injection-based medical beauty project.
He told reporters: "I hope that 40 will be far away from me." He believes that moderate medical beauty can not only improve his appearance, but also improve his self-confidence, which can allow him to show a better state in life and work.
In the year 2023 that has just passed, many service industries related to the appearance economy have delivered considerable results.
The "China Medical Aesthetics Industry 2023 Annual Insight Report" released by Deloitte and Allergan Aesthetics shows that the size of China's medical aesthetics market is expected to exceed 200 billion yuan in 2023.
According to the "2023 Beauty and Bodybuilding Industry Development Report" released by Meituan, in the first eight months of 2023, the store opening rate of the beauty and bodybuilding industry was 25%, and the store opening rate on the Meituan platform was 55.1%, a record high in the past five years. , far exceeding the 16.9% in 2019.
The growth in store opening rate and confidence among practitioners reflects the large market space in the future of the beauty economy service industry and demonstrates the huge potential of the beauty economy.
The beauty economy unlocks more consumption scenarios
As consumers' awareness and pursuit of appearance continue to increase, appearance consumption is no longer the exclusive preserve of young people and women.
With the changes in consumption concepts, the beauty economy is increasingly breaking through consumption scenarios such as cosmetics and beauty, unlocking more consumption scenarios, and consumer demand in beauty software, photo appointments, fitness and other fields is growing rapidly.
Ms. Zhang, who is nearly 50 years old, is keen on taking commemorative photos of tourists.
During the National Day last year, she spent 400 yuan to purchase a one-hour photography appointment service at the Aranya Scenic Area in Qinhuangdao, Hebei.
She posted a few selected photos on her WeChat Moments and said with satisfaction: "The results are professional that cannot be captured by relatives and friends traveling with me. I will make similar appointments for future trips."
In recent years, the consumer demand for “beautiful scenery but also beautiful people” has become increasingly evident in the cultural tourism market.
Go to Xi'an to wear Hanfu to check in, wear hairpins to take photos in Fujian, wear ethnic costumes to shoot vlogs in Yunnan... There are groups of tourists wearing traditional costumes and ethnic costumes in major popular scenic spots. Related content on various social media is endless. Traditional The apparel and apparel industry continues to grow and develop.
A set of beautiful photos and a video can make an attraction popular and an industry popular. Cases are repeated frequently.
Some experts said that at present, the consumption scene of the beauty economy continues to expand, and has developed from traditional "low-frequency" and "high-consumption" such as skin care, cosmetics, and medical beauty to "regular" or even fixed daily consumption, and has begun to be deeply integrated into the common people. Life has become a necessity.
The emergence of more consumption scenarios will further promote the upgrading of beauty consumption.
Zhang Qian
Zhang Qian