Beautify like Beckham: Chinese men splash the cash to keep up appearances
Men looking as good as the fairer sex is predicted to become a US$3 billion industry in China by 2022
Looking good used to be the exclusive privilege of women.
But in China, a boom in the country’s nearly US$2 billion male grooming market shows that striving for the perfect image is no longer refined to the fairer sex.
According to a white paper last month on the male-beauty sector from Tmall Innovation Center (TMIC) and L’Oréal China Consumer Intelligence, total sales of male-beauty products in China spiked 59 per cent and 54 per cent in 2017 and 2018, representing a golden opportunity for leading players.
L’Oréal China, Clear by Unilever, Gillette and Nivea for Men are among the top brands now battling it out to cash in on the demand for flawless skin and well-groomed hair.
The market is expected to boom in value to nearly US$3 billion by 2022 – that is a compound annual growth rate of around 6 per cent over the next five years, according to OC&C.
“The Chinese grooming market, the largest in Asia and ranked first in terms of total consumption of products, still lags far behind Japan and South Korea in the average spending per capita, with the average spending per male consumer below US$3 in 2017,” said the study, which is less than 10 per cent of the average spending in the former.
