Explainer: Why are China's beauty brands winning over global consumers?

BEIJING, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Amid the sleek displays of Florasis' Ginza counter in Tokyo, Japanese social media influencer Kaho Ishii greeted her fans with a smile, handing them the cosmetic products she had long recommended.

"Compared with domestic cosmetics, these products really stand out," she said, praising their long-lasting wear and bold colors that "don't smudge or fade easily," as well as the Chinese-inspired aesthetics and "natural ingredients within."

"Using them really opens up more possibilities for makeup looks," Ishii shared, reflecting a growing enthusiasm among overseas consumers for Chinese beauty brands.

GOING MAINSTREAM

Chinese beauty brands are no longer niche players overseas. According to China's General Administration of Customs, cosmetics exports rose 11.7 percent year on year to 36.68 billion yuan (about 5.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the first eight months of 2025, marking a third consecutive year of double-digit growth. More than 50 domestic brands have expanded overseas. They are no longer confined to cross-border platforms; many have moved into brick-and-mortar channels, underscoring the sector's accelerating international push.

Brands such as Florasis and Flower Knows have entered mainstream chains, including Ulta Beauty in the United States, while others have expanded into overseas Watsons outlets. In 2025, several labels, including Judydoll, Joocyee and Florasis, opened their standalone stores abroad.

"In global competition, China's supply-chain depth, speed and cost efficiency give it a structural advantage. The question now is not whether Chinese cosmetics have a place overseas, but how large that place will be," Zhang Yan, president of Zhejiang Health Products and Cosmetics Industry Association, told Xinhua.

Platform data highlight the shift. According to data from Alibaba.com, the cross-border B2B platform of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba, North America remains the largest destination, with the United States accounting for nearly a quarter of orders, growing 30 percent annually.

Demand is also rising rapidly in Europe and the Middle East, while Southeast Asia remains the fastest-growing region.

"With products now reaching more than 180 countries and regions, the sector is no longer reliant on any single market," said Duan Yuwan, deputy dean of the School of International Economics and Trade at the Central University of Finance and Economics.

Even amid global market caution, Chinese brands are gaining traction. The question, then, is what underpins this momentum?

COMPETITIVE FOUNDATIONS

The answer lies not in marketing alone, but in a complete industrial system honed at home. China's cosmetics market surpassed 1.1 trillion yuan (about 159 billion dollars) in 2025, solidifying its position as the world's largest, with domestic brands capturing 57.37 percent of sales. Fierce domestic competition has acted as a filter. Of brands founded between 2016 and 2020, only about 12 percent survive five years, according to industry reports.

As Professor Zhuang Rui of the University of International Business and Economics notes, "this competition mechanism has a distinct Chinese character -- market-driven, shaped by a broader institutional framework. It creates the conditions for brands to strengthen quality and competitiveness before shifting overseas."

Several structural strengths have emerged in China's cosmetics industry, shaping how its brands compete abroad. As domestic capabilities advance, firms are seeking growth abroad through localized production, distribution and branding strategies.

Perhaps the most striking feature is the speed of iteration. A Chinese brand can move from spotting a trend to launching a product in less than three months, a cycle that often stretches to six to 12 months elsewhere, according to Alibaba.com. Real-time sales data flow straight back to development teams, informing adjustments to formulas, colors, and packaging. As efficiency improves, rapid change becomes a competitive advantage.

Technical innovation is another pillar. By mid-2025, Chinese companies had filed 80 new cosmetic ingredient patents, 70 percent of them domestically sourced, a year-on-year leap of around 80 percent. Hyaluronic acid alone, a staple in moisturizers and serums, sees 80 percent of its global production coming from China, giving brands both quality and cost leverage.

R&D investment has been robust. Proya Cosmetics' relevant spending nearly tripled in four years, rising from 77 million yuan (about 11 million dollars) in 2020 to 210 million yuan (about 30 million dollars) in 2024. In 2024, it opened the Proya Europe Innovation Center in Paris, recruiting veteran scientists from global beauty firms.

Another Chinese beauty company Yatsen Group has invested more than 700 million yuan (about 101 million dollars) in research and built R&D centers in Guangzhou and the French city of Toulouse, anchoring growth in science rather than marketing.

"The real export is not just products, but technology and brand power," said Huang Jinfeng, founder of Yatsen Group.

Digital channels complete the picture. Cosmetics brand Colorkey's expansion abroad began with e-commerce platforms such as Shopee and Lazada, testing demand before committing significant capital. As traction grew, the brand moved into TikTok-driven social commerce, drawing closer to local consumers. Only later did it invest in warehouses and offline retail, turning online visibility into a more durable presence.

Other platforms are helping reshape the business landscape. SHEIN, for instance, has accelerated the shift from contract manufacturing to brand ownership. Misslyn, which joined the platform in 2023, reaches more than 100 markets and generates over 50 million yuan (about 7 million dollars) annually on SHEIN alone as of the end of 2025. Executives credit its logistics network and data tools for helping transform factory capacity into global retail reach. What was once a supply-chain advantage is becoming increasingly a branding one.

In this context, supply-side strength matters just as much as the marketing narratives -- an undeniable engine driving China's C-Beauty export boom.

Jonathan Webb, co-founder and co-CEO of New York-based e-commerce player Packable, Inc., said China's role in global supply chains is crucial, underscoring how deeply international retail networks remain connected to Chinese manufacturing capacity.

FROM MAKER TO BRAND

The upgrade is comprehensive. C-Beauty is no longer defined by speed to market: It now offers an end-to-end experience, from formulation to packaging, from content to retail design. According to customs figures, exports of Chinese homegrown brands rose 12.9 percent in 2025, despite global uncertainty. Mid-sized brands can now leverage supply chain sophistication and analytics to scale abroad -- a sign of growth that is both replicable and scalable.

Duan, deputy dean of the School of International Economics and Trade at the Central University of Finance and Economics, said the sector's shift from cost reliance to value creation reflects a broader transformation in the Chinese economy. While some latecomer manufacturers respond to global pressure with price cuts, risking entrenchment at the lower end of value chains, China's cosmetics industry has steadily moved upmarket.

Li Jicheng, chairman of Osilan Cosmetics, noted that to succeed abroad, domestic brands must keenly understand overseas consumers' preferences and retail environments, while committing long-term to building brand recognition.

Zhang, president of Zhejiang Health Products and Cosmetics Industry Association, added, "C-Beauty is now delivering an exceptional customer experience from product performance through to brand identity. Many leading Chinese beauty brands are setting new benchmarks in visual language, art direction and retail design, creating a distinctly modern Chinese aesthetic that feels sophisticated and highly appealing to Western consumers."

According to Gabby Chen, president of global expansion at Florasis, "Quality is the foundation, and culture is the soul." For four years, their approach to international expansion has blended technological rigor with cultural storytelling, demonstrating that China's beauty exports represent not just manufacturing, but creation, innovation and identity.

Together, these elements allow Chinese cosmetics to fill a previously untapped space in global markets. Consumers find products that rival premium brands in design, ingredients, and aesthetic sensibility, yet at far more affordable prices. In this context, supply-side strength, technological prowess, and cultural resonance matter just as much as marketing, forming the true engine behind China's C-Beauty export boom.

Beyond the commercial gains, the forces driving C-Beauty's expansion carry broader implications. By embedding high-efficiency supply chains into global retail networks, Chinese brands are helping stabilize product cycles and moderate price pressures amid persistent inflation and supply volatility. For international retailers, shorter development timelines and flexible production reduce inventory risk and enhance responsiveness to consumer trends.

For consumers, the impact is equally tangible. Chinese brands have opened up a middle space between mass-market and luxury labels, offering sophisticated design and ingredient innovation at accessible price points. The result is not merely intensified competition, but expanded choice.

For other developing economies, the trajectory offers a valuable reference. Rather than remaining confined to contract manufacturing, firms can leverage large domestic markets, digital trade platforms and vertically integrated supply chains to nurture homegrown brands. In this sense, the rise of C-Beauty illustrates a pathway from manufacturing participation to value-chain upgrading -- one rooted in domestic competition but oriented toward global integration. ■