Retail Channels
Recently, A.S. Watson Group announced that Felix Lee, Managing Director of Watson's Hong Kong, has resigned due to personal reasons. His position will be taken over by Donna Poon, and the appointment will take effect on November 1, 2025.
Recently, HARMAY, a beauty collection store, opened its first store in Changzhou, located at Changzhou MixC. In the second half of the year, HARMAY's layout in the Jiangsu market has been particularly intensive, successively settling in Nanjing JLC, Wuxi Center 66 and Changzhou MixC. Its first store in Changsha has also set up hoardings on Changsha IFS Street, and is expected to open in November. Since the beginning of this year, HARMAY has restarted its store expansion pace. According to brand statistics, from March to September, HARMAY has opened 9 new stores in Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuxi, Changzhou, Beijing, Foshan, Qinhuangdao and other places.
Authoritative Announcements
On October 14th, the National Institutes for Food and Drug Control (NIFDC) formulated the draft for comments and drafting explanations of 6 cosmetics standard revision projects, including the Test Method for 90-day Oral Toxicity. It has publicly solicited opinions on these documents. It is reported that the platform for feedback on the above-mentioned multiple cosmetics standards is the "Cosmetics Standard Formulation and Revision Management System", with the deadline set for November 7th, 2025.
Recently, data from the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) shows that two new raw materials, 2'-Fucosyllactose (Registration No.: CFRA 20250130) and Black Soldier Fly Larvae Oil (Registration No.: CFRA 20250131), have completed the filing procedures. Both filings were submitted by Wuhan Zhongke Guanggu Green Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Among them, Black Soldier Fly Larvae Oil is a new animal-derived raw material and ranks among one of the only two new animal-based raw materials filed in 2025.
According to the announcement from the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) on October 21st, the Fermented Filtrate of Bifidobacterium Adolescentis/Milk Powder (Registration No.: CFRA 20250129) has completed the filing as a new cosmetic raw material and entered the public notice stage. The filing was made by Guangdong Heji Biotechnology Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hua'antang Group. At present, the relevant technical requirements have not been disclosed, and the raw material has not entered the monitoring period yet.
Brands and Industry
Recently, The Body Shop has re-entered the U.S. market, with its official website and Amazon as the core sales channels. Notably, the brand shut down its U.S. operations in March last year. Public data shows that founded in 1976, the brand has Tmall Global Flagship Store, Douyin Official Flagship Store and other channels in the Chinese market.
On September 19, 2025, Rayol (003010.SZ), an operator of new consumer brands, officially submitted an application for listing on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, launching the layout of an "A+H" dual-capital platform.
On September 22, Tianci Materials (002709), a global leader in new energy materials, formally submitted an IPO application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The joint sponsors are J.P. Morgan, CITIC Securities and GF Securities.
Recently, Bawei Co., Ltd. issued an announcement stating that it plans to invest 20 million yuan of its own funds to participate in the establishment of "Guangzhou GIC Beauty and Health Equity Investment Fund (Limited Partnership)".
Recently, Valentino Beauty, under L'Oréal Group, announced that it will officially terminate online and offline sales in the Taiwan region of China on December 31, 2025.
On September 29, CHANDO Global Holdings Co., Ltd. submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with Huatai International and UBS Group as joint sponsors.
It is reported that French luxury giant LVMH is considering selling its 50% stake in Fenty Beauty, a beauty brand co-owned with Grammy Award-winning singer and entrepreneur Rihanna. LVMH has hired investment bank Evercore to assist in advancing the relevant sales matters and is currently assessing the interest of potential buyers. All details remain confidential as the process involves sensitive commercial information.
On October 21, Juyi Group, a multi-brand beauty group, announced the completion of the acquisition of Foltène, an Italian technology-based hair care brand. This further improves its "multi-brand, multi-category, international" strategic layout, expanding the brand matrix to five core brands—Judydoll, Joocyee, Bio-Meso, Rene Furterer and Foltène, realizing a comprehensive layout from color cosmetics and scientific skin care to hair care.
According to the prospectus submitted by CHANDO Group for its IPO, CHANDO introduced L'Oréal and Jiahua Capital as strategic investors before the IPO. Meiding under L'Oréal invested a total of 442 million yuan to obtain a 6.67% stake, while Jiahua Capital invested 300 million yuan to acquire a 4.20% stake.
On October 22, foreign media quoted informed sources as saying that luxury giant LVMH Group is considering selling its 50% stake in Fenty Beauty and is currently cooperating with investment bank Evercore to advance the sale.
On October 15, Beauty Farm issued an announcement stating that it will strategically acquire 100% equity of Shanghai Charme Industry Co., Ltd. for 1.25 billion yuan.
On October 20, the National Bureau of Statistics released the latest data showing that in September this year, the retail sales of cosmetics reached 36.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.6%, the highest growth rate so far this year.In addition, in the first three quarters of this year (January-September), the retail sales of cosmetics recorded a year-on-year increase of 3.9%, reversing the downward trend in the same period last year.According to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the total retail sales of consumer goods in September was 4.1971 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3%. Among them, the growth rate of cosmetics was as high as 8.6%, far exceeding the growth rate of the overall market.
On October 19, well-known evaluation account "Laoba Testing" released a video claiming to have detected Sudan Red in multiple cosmetics, triggering widespread attention. According to the video, "Laoba Laboratory" screened out Sudan Red in a flesh-colored skin care product with a "matching degree of 94.5% and almost identical waveform", and the relevant ingredient was not marked in the ingredient list.In response, "Laoba Laboratory" speculated that Sudan Red may come from raw materials. Based on the red color of Sudan Red and a comparison of the ingredient list of the involved products, it finally found highly suspected raw material groups—Eclipta Prostrata Extract, Melia Azadirachta Leaf Extract, and Moringa Oleifera Seed Oil.
Recently, Chunji, a once well-known mass skin care brand under Marubi Biotechnology, has quietly withdrawn from major online platforms. The homepage of the brand's Tmall flagship store shows: "This store plans to voluntarily terminate operations on October 26, 2025". A search on Douyin found that Chunji's stores and official accounts no longer exist, while the brand's Xiaohongshu account has long stopped updating. The brand has not launched new products in the past year or so.
Recently, Japanese beauty company FineToday Holdings decided to suspend its IPO plan on the Tokyo Stock Exchange launched in September.FineToday stated that it "decided to suspend the listing process considering recent stock market trends and other factors". However, according to reports from multiple media outlets, the reason for FineToday's decision to suspend the listing may be that the market valuation fell short of expectations.Notably, this is the second time FineToday has pressed the pause button on its listing. In May last year, FineToday first disclosed its listing plan. In December of the same year, FineToday announced the suspension of stock issuance and the postponement of the listing date.
Recently, Ryohin Keikaku, the parent company of Japanese lifestyle brand MUJI, released its financial report for the 2025 fiscal year (September 2024-August 2025). During the reporting period, it achieved operating income of 784.629 billion yen (approximately 37.168 billion yuan), a year-on-year increase of 18.6%; operating profit was 73.84 billion yen (approximately 3.498 billion yuan), a year-on-year increase of 31.5%.Notably, health and beauty products (i.e., cosmetics), as MUJI's core global business, have achieved annual sales of over 100 billion yen (approximately 4.7 billion yuan) in Japan for the first time. The sales proportion has increased by 5 percentage points compared with two years ago, reaching 22%. It is also reported that the scale of MUJI's cosmetics business has doubled compared with three years ago, ranking 7th in Japan's cosmetics industry.
E-commerce Platforms
On October 9th, JD Logistics issued an announcement on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, stating that it will acquire a wholly-owned subsidiary engaged in local instant delivery business from JD.com Group for 270 million US dollars. This acquisition will help JD Logistics strengthen its "last-mile" delivery capabilities. Notably, JD Beauty has collaborated with well-known beauty collection stores including Watsons, THE COLORIST, and WOW COLOUR.
Amazon announced that it will continue to expand global support for South Korean beauty brands over the next three years. Data shows that South Korea's beauty exports exceeded 10 billion US dollars for the first time in 2024, reaching 10.2 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 20.6%. Among them, Amazon.com has become a core growth driver, with South Korean beauty sales surging by over 70% from 2023 to 2024, attracting 19 million consumers and accounting for 20% of beauty-related searches.Currently, more than 1,200 South Korean beauty brands and over 20,000 products have settled on the platform. The platform will also launch exclusive activities for more than 200 new products, including 60 exclusive items. The Japanese market has also performed impressively, with South Korean beauty ranking as Japan's largest source of imported beauty products for three consecutive years. South Korean beauty sales on Amazon.co.jp have increased 50-fold in ten years, and shipments doubled year-on-year in 2024. Through initiatives such as the "K-Beauty Go Big" program, logistics rebates, and the Accelerator project, Amazon provides end-to-end support to help South Korean beauty brands enhance their international competitiveness. With platform empowerment, the high-growth momentum of South Korean beauty in the US and Japanese markets is expected to continue.
On October 21st, Jushuitan, China's largest e-commerce SaaS ERP provider, officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with the stock code 6687. The opening price on the first day was HK$38 per share, a 24.18% increase from the issue price of HK$30.6 per share, with a market value exceeding HK$16 billion. According to information on Jushuitan's official website, beauty and daily chemical enterprises such as Marubi Biotechnology, Osmun, and Cosmax are among its clients.
On October 13th, according to the General Administration of Customs, in the first three quarters, China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports reached approximately 2.06 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.4%. Among them, exports were about 1.63 trillion yuan, up 6.6%; imports were about 425.54 billion yuan, up 5.9%. The imported goods are mainly beauty and personal care products, fresh food, medical and health products, and medical devices, with import destinations mainly concentrated in Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, and Shandong.
On October 21st, the "Tmall Beauty Double 11 Spot 4-Hour Transaction Ranking" was released. The list shows that Proya retained the top spot, followed by Estée Lauder in second place and SkinCeuticals in third. Meanwhile, according to official Tmall information, after the official launch of the 2025 Tmall Double 11, beauty brands took the lead with a faster growth rate than last year.Data shows that 6 minutes after the launch, Proya was the first to exceed 100 million yuan in sales, followed by Estée Lauder, SK-II, SkinCeuticals, Lancôme, L'Oréal, and others. Ten minutes after the launch, 8 beauty brands exceeded 100 million yuan in sales, surpassing the same period last year.In the first hour of sales, top brands such as SK-II, Clarins, and Clé de Peau Beaute all achieved double-digit growth. Brands including Tongpin, Dr.Wu, and Flower Knows recorded higher transactions in the first hour than the entire first day of last year's launch.
On October 21st, Douyin E-commerce released the Double 11 Highlight Brand Ranking. From October 9th to October 19th, many industry brands achieved outstanding results. The list shows strong demand for bulk purchases of FMCG products, with significant sales growth for FMCG brands in beauty, food and beverage health, household cleaning and daily necessities, personal care, pets, alcohol, and parent-child education, fully releasing consumption potential.Among them, beauty remains a key bulk purchase category during Double 11. Pechoin, Proya, and THE WHOO took the top three spots on the beauty brand list, with sales exceeding 100 million yuan each, achieving dual growth in brand influence and sales.
International Conglomerates
On October 22, L'Oréal China Information Center released its financial report for the period ending September 30, 2025. L'Oréal's year-on-year growth continued to accelerate, reaching 4.9% in the third quarter with sales of 10.3 billion euros. All business divisions achieved growth, among which the Professional Products Division recorded the fastest growth rate of 7.4%. All regions also saw growth, with the North American and Chinese mainland markets providing strong momentum through sustained recovery. The online channel achieved double-digit growth, far outpacing the market growth rate.
On October 23, Unilever released its financial reports for the third quarter and the first three quarters of 2025. The reports show that in the third quarter, Unilever achieved a turnover of 14.7 billion euros (approximately 121.417 billion yuan), a year-on-year decrease of 3.5%. In the first three quarters of this year, Unilever's turnover reached 44.8 billion euros (approximately 370.034 billion yuan), a year-on-year decrease of 3.3%.
On October 23, Beiersdorf released its performance report for the first nine months of 2025. Driven by the strong performance of its Derma business, Beiersdorf's sales in the first nine months reached 7.5 billion euros (approximately 61.96 billion yuan), achieving an organic growth of 2.0%. For the third quarter alone, Beiersdorf's total sales were 2.352 billion euros (approximately 19.43 billion yuan), with an organic growth of 1.7%, a slight decline from the 2.1% organic growth rate in the first half of the year.
Recently, according to reports from multiple South Korean media outlets, LG Household & Health Care is implementing a "voluntary retirement program" for sales and promotion staff in the duty-free and department store channels of its beauty division. The company stated that "this move is a personnel optimization adjustment following the gradual withdrawal of its offline store businesses such as duty-free shops and department stores."
Foreign media quoted informed sources as saying that French luxury giant Kering Group is in advanced negotiations with L'Oréal Group regarding the sale of its beauty division, with a transaction valuation of approximately 4 billion US dollars (about 28.506 billion yuan). If the negotiations are successful, L'Oréal will acquire the high-end perfume brand Creed and obtain the relevant rights to develop beauty products for Kering's fashion brands, including core brands such as Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, and Alexander McQueen.
Recently, French luxury giant Hermès announced its third-quarter 2025 results. Data shows that its revenue increased by 9.6% at constant exchange rates to 3.881 billion euros, an improvement from the previous two quarters (with growth rates of 7.2% and 9% respectively), once again demonstrating the brand's outstanding resilience and steady growth momentum. In the first three quarters of this year, revenue increased by 8.6% at constant exchange rates to 11.916 billion euros.During the period, the French domestic market's revenue grew by 10.4% year-on-year to 403 million euros in the third quarter; the European market (excluding France) saw revenue growth of 10.2% to 633 million euros; the Japanese market's revenue increased by 13.8% to 389 million euros; the Asia-Pacific market (excluding Japan) achieved revenue growth of 6.2% to 1.589 billion euros; the American market's revenue rose by 14.1% to 714 million euros; and other markets including the Middle East recorded revenue growth of 11.7% to 154 million euros.By category, the Leather Goods and Saddlery division remains the group's main growth engine, with revenue increasing by 13.3% year-on-year at constant exchange rates to 1.7 billion euros in the third quarter. Notably, its Fragrance and Beauty business performed weakly, with revenue declining by 7.2% year-on-year to 118 million euros.
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