H1 2026 Report: China's Beauty Market Analysis
Overview
China's online beauty sales held at CN¥ 434.8 billion in 2025 as content-led commerce rose to 55%. Price tiers, promotions and what grew in H1 2026.
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Key Findings
- The category held its size, but changed its shape. Observed online beauty sales across three of China's largest marketplaces went from CN¥ 444.6 billion in 2022 to CN¥ 434.8 billion in 2025, +3.4% on a 2024 trough, and the entire decline came from skincare, while colour cosmetics, fragrance and tools grew +18.8% over the same three years.
- Sales have moved to content-led commerce. Content-led commerce rose from 28% to 55% of the three-marketplace beauty total, January-July 2022 to January-July 2026, while the four promotional months still carry two-fifths of annual sales, with premium's share +4.2 points higher inside them.
- Skincare shoppers are trading down, while colour cosmetics and fragrance are trading up. In the first half of 2026 premium skincare fell −11.6% while luxury skincare grew +9.1%, and in colour cosmetics lip and eye products moved up the price ladder.
- Products that promise a specific result are growing. Skincare sold on an anti-acne claim grew +26.5% and face make-up +13.6% in the first half of 2026, against −1.0% for all skincare, and in both cases the growth came from content-led commerce.
| Region |
China
|
| Industry |
Beauty & Skincare
|
| Report Type | Market Analysis |
| Pages | 34 |
| Language | en |
| Author | Moojing Market Research Team |
Frequently Asked Questions
Across three of China's largest online marketplaces, observed online beauty sales were CN¥ 434.8 billion in 2025, +3.4% on 2024, after bottoming out at CN¥ 420.7 billion in 2024. This is not the size of China's whole beauty market, since it excludes physical stores and several other marketplaces.
Content-led commerce, where demand is generated by video, livestream and creator content rather than by search, grew from 28% of three-marketplace beauty sales in January-July 2022 to 55% in January-July 2026, while established marketplace commerce fell from 72% to 45%.
No. Premium skincare, defined as a unit price of CN¥ 360-1,080, fell −6.4% in 2025 while skincare as a whole grew +2.0%, and in the first half of 2026 it fell −11.6% while luxury skincare grew +9.1%. Premium colour cosmetics grew +14.7% and premium fragrance +15.6% in 2025.
Measured by the benefit named in product titles, anti-acne skincare grew fastest in the first half of 2026, by +26.5%, followed by blackheads at +16.3%, oil control at +10.6% and anti-wrinkle at +10.1%, while moisturising, still the largest claim, fell −5.4%.
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