Bottom line: Growth in China’s beauty market is now concentrating on Douyin. Over twelve months, Douyin’s beauty sales rose 43.6% while Tmall’s fell 2.3%. At the same time, domestic Chinese brands (国货) are moving into the space Korean brands occupy, with mid-priced products at RMB 300–500 and an ingredient-led pitch. Korean brands should start by rebalancing Tmall-heavy budgets and backing ingredient claims with numbers and documentation.
The source is a 63-page report from KPMG China (毕马威), published in November 2025: “‘颜’值经济新篇章：2025年中国美妆市场行业报告” (A New Chapter for the Beauty Economy: 2025 China Beauty Market Industry Report). KPMG did not run its own survey. The report compiles official statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics, the General Administration of Customs and the China Association of Fragrance, Flavor and Cosmetic Industries (CAFFCI), along with third-party data from NIQ, Statista, iiMedia (艾媒咨询) and Miaozhen (秒针系统).
1. Douyin grew 43.6% in a year while Tmall went backward
According to NIQ e-commerce data for July 2024 to June 2025, Douyin’s beauty sales reached RMB 244.5 billion, more than Tmall, Taobao and JD combined (RMB 239.3 billion). The gap in growth is even wider.
| Platform | Beauty sales (RMB 100M) | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Douyin | 2,445 | +43.6% |
| Tmall | 1,329 | -2.3% |
| JD | 542 | +10.0% |
| Taobao | 522 | -1.4% |
- As recently as 2023, the two were close: Taobao and Tmall together held 26.9% of the market and Douyin 23.2% (p.14, CAFFCI).
- In Q1 2025, online cosmetics retail grew 11.2% while offline fell 11.4%. Membership warehouse clubs were almost the only offline format still growing. At Sam’s Club, at least 40 beauty products each sell more than 10,000 units a month (p.24).
- Domestic brands have shifted dramatically. Proya (珀莱雅) cut its offline revenue share from 63.9% in 2017 to 9.0% in 2022. Shangmei (上美, owner of 韩束) went from 70.0% in 2019 to 9.5% in 2024 (p.39).
2. Korea is China’s third-largest cosmetics supplier, but the import market has stalled
Of the USD 17.33 billion in fragrance and cosmetics imports from January to September 2025, Korea accounted for 9.3%, ranking third after France (20.8%) and Japan (13.2%) (p.32). The problem is that the market isn’t growing. Over the same period, imports of beauty and personal care products rose just 0.4%, while exports grew 10.3%.
- Five of China’s top 10 skincare brands by sales in 2023 were established domestic brands. In makeup, only two of the top 10 were domestic (Florasis/花西子 at No. 4 and Carslan/卡姿兰 at No. 8), together accounting for 18.8% of top-10 sales (p.24, Statista).
- Korean manufacturers sit behind some of these domestic brands. The report’s OEM/ODM table shows HFP, Perfect Diary (完美日记) and Florasis using Cosmax (科丝美诗) or Korea Kolmar (p.23). Korean manufacturing strength is already built into Chinese brands’ products.
3. The only price band gaining share is RMB 300–500
In 2024 online skincare, according to Mojing (魔镜洞察) data, only the RMB 300–500 band gained share, up 1.8 percentage points. Both premium products above RMB 500 and ultra-cheap products below RMB 100 lost share. In makeup, products under RMB 100 hold about 48% of the market, and that low-price segment grew a further 0.7 points (p.19).
The report describes international brands as anchoring the RMB 600–2,000 premium tier, with domestic brands focused on the RMB 200–500 mid-tier (p.24). The growing 300–500 band is exactly where domestic brands are strongest. Korean skincare priced in this range will face direct comparison with Chinese brands (CMB interpretation).
4. Shoppers choose on ingredients, and first-time buyers want proof
- The top purchase factor is ingredients (58.8%), followed by efficacy (41.4%), brand (37.0%) and price (35.4%). Promotions matter to only 17.0% (p.45, iiMedia).
- According to NeoSight analysis, first-time buyers compare reputations across multiple 种草 (product-seeding content) platforms and check “best and worst” lists (红黑榜). Trust barriers toward new brands are high, so genuine KOL reviews, active-ingredient concentration and professional certification are decisive. Brands that pair trial sizes with allergy-related return guarantees see notably stronger first-purchase conversion (p.45).
- At the repurchase stage, consumers weigh promised results against actual experience, and that gap is a major driver of churn (p.45).
- 78.2% of purchases are driven by a specific occasion rather than simple restocking. The top occasion is “a gift to myself” (15.2%) (p.44, Miaozhen).
Ingredient claims now need paperwork behind them. Since May 1, 2025, the simplified safety assessment has been abolished, and product registration or notification requires a full safety assessment report. From August 1, new rules on safety risk monitoring cover the entire chain from raw materials to retail (p.10).
What Korean brands should change first
The following recommendations are CMB’s, based on the report’s data and adapted to the situation of Korean beauty brands.
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| 1. Rebalance Tmall-heavy budgets | Keep Tmall as the hub for search and repeat purchases, and review each quarter how much new-customer acquisition budget should move to Douyin short video and livestreams. |
| 2. Build a comparison sheet for RMB 300–500 products | Set your product against domestic brands at the same price on ingredients, concentration, size and price per ml. Put the points you win on directly into product pages and KOL briefs. |
| 3. State concentration and evidence, not just ingredients | Go beyond “contains X.” Show active-ingredient concentration, clinical or human-use test results and certifications. These are what first-time buyers look for. |
| 4. Lower the first-purchase barrier | On Douyin and Tmall, pair trial sizes with a return guarantee for sensitive reactions, and track first-purchase conversion for this bundle separately. |
| 5. Cut overpromising that erodes repurchase | Collect recurring “not as good as expected” themes from reviews and revise efficacy language in KOL briefs. |
| 6. Recheck registration timelines | Build the time needed to prepare a full safety assessment report into China launch schedules from the start. |
Caveats
- All figures are secondary data. The report does not disclose sample sizes or methods for the consumer surveys it cites.
- Market size definitions vary by source. The report cites RMB 1.1 trillion for 2024 (CAFFCI, p.14), RMB 435.65 billion in cosmetics retail by enterprises above a designated size (National Bureau of Statistics, p.7) and USD 69.41 billion (Statista, p.15). These are not comparable.
- The NIQ platform data counts Tmall and Taobao separately and excludes Kuaishou and Pinduoduo.
- The report does not cover individual Korean brands’ performance or market share. Korea appears only in import shares, new-ingredient filings (four, p.29) and the OEM table.
- The second half leans heavily on investment, M&A and IPO analysis, reflecting the perspective of an audit and advisory firm.
Source: KPMG China (毕马威) · ‘颜’值经济新篇章：2025年中国美妆市场行业报告 (PDF, 63 pages)
