China Online Beauty Growth Slows to 1.1%: Five Moves for H2

China's online beauty sales grew 1.1% in January to July 2026 across three of China's largest marketplaces, about a third of the previous year's rate, according to Moojing Market Intelligence. Because the growth that remains depends on segment, channel, calendar and claim, we set out five recommendations for brands planning the second half of 2026.

Key figures

• +1.1%: the whole beauty category, January-July 2026, against +3.6% a year earlier
• +2.1% to +10.6%: the trend range for colour cosmetics, fragrance and tools in 2026
• 55%: content-led commerce's share of beauty sales, January-July 2026
• +4.2 points: premium's higher share of the category in the four promotional months
• +26.5%: skincare sold on an anti-acne claim, H1 2026, against −1.0% for all skincare

Method and scope: observed online sales across three of China's largest online marketplaces, modelled by Moojing Market Intelligence from listings and captured prices, 2022 to July 2026, with conversation figures from a separate social listening dataset. This is not the total market, and offline retail is not covered.

What is the outlook for China's beauty market in 2026?#

The sales trend does not support a reliable projection for the whole online beauty category in 2026, whereas colour cosmetics, fragrance and beauty tools are on a trend that points to growth of between 2.1% and 10.6% for the year.

Our outlook is therefore about the shape of the market more than about a single number. The whole-category trend explains only 21% of the variance, against 93% for colour cosmetics, fragrance and tools, which is why we quote the range for one and the year-to-date figure for the other, as our article on the market's size explains. Inside that slow total, the first half of 2026 rewarded products with a specific job to do, such as an anti-acne serum or a setting spray, and most of that growth went through content-led commerce. We therefore believe 2026 will reward brands for where they position themselves and for what their products promise, more than for simply being present.

Exhibit 5. Source: Moojing Market Intelligence, observed marketplace data. Marketplaces are anonymised and grouped by how demand is generated, not by name. January-July of each year.

What should beauty brands do in China in H2 2026?#

Beauty brands in China should time premium launches into the promotional windows, choose their product direction one segment at a time, build for content-led commerce, treat RED as the value-seeking channel and build products around a specific, visible result, according to Moojing Market Intelligence's H1 2026 report on China's beauty market.

The exhibit numbers refer to the charts in the full report.

1. Time premium launches into the promotional windows (Exhibits 8 and 9). Averaged over 2023 to 2025, the share of the category taken by premium products, priced at CN¥ 360-1,080 a unit, was 4.2 points higher in May, June, October and November than in the other eight months, at 25.4% against 21.2%, and the promotional months lifted premium's share in every skincare function. Brands should therefore launch premium lines and set their reference prices inside that four-month bloc, when shoppers are most willing to upgrade, and plan for the month after each festival, when sales in most skincare functions run 20-42% below April and May after the 618 festival in June, and 18-51% below September and October after Double 11 in November. Our article on channels and the calendar sets out the detail.
2. Choose product direction segment by segment (Exhibits 11 to 14). In skincare, brands should defend their position at mass and mid price points, since mass skincare grew 3.4% between 2023 and 2025 and shoppers of cleansers and toners are trading up. They should also expect the premium band to keep losing ground to both cheaper and dearer products, since premium skincare sales fell 11.6% in H1 2026 while luxury skincare grew 9.1%. Serums and eye care are the premium positions to protect, because that is where premium's share is being lost. In colour cosmetics the opportunity is to push premium in lip and eye products, where premium's share rose from 17.6% to 21.3% and from 5.2% to 8.5% between 2023 and 2025, and in fragrance, where every price tier grew in 2025, there is little reason to lead with mass. Our article on the price ladder goes through each segment.
3. Build for content-led commerce (Exhibits 5, 15, 16 and 18). Content-led commerce carried 55% of beauty sales in January-July 2026 and is still gaining share. It is where the growth in anti-acne skincare and face make-up came from in the first half of 2026, and four-fifths of its sampled premium skincare sales went to Chinese brands in 2025. For international brands the implication is uncomfortable, since staying away means missing the channel where the growth is, while being there means competing with Chinese premium brands on their home ground. For Chinese brands it is the reverse, because international brands still take most sampled premium skincare sales on the established marketplaces. The margin question on content-led commerce is a real one, but we believe it is better answered with a considered price architecture than by staying away.
4. Treat RED as the value-seeking channel (Exhibits 22, 24 and 25). In 2024 and 2025, nine-tenths of the social conversation about affordable substitutes for premium skincare took place on RED, although the platform carried only a fifth of skincare conversation overall. That makes RED the place where shoppers discover and compare mass and mid-priced skincare, and a less natural place to expect premium discovery. Brands should seed their mass and mid-priced lines there with that comparison in mind, including anti-acne products, since RED carries half of the conversation about acne. They should take premium discovery to the platforms where the routine and anti-ageing conversations take place, matching the age profile to the platform, as our article on China's beauty conversation describes.
5. Build products around a specific, visible result (Exhibits 16, 17 and 18). Shoppers in the first half of 2026 spent more on products that name the problem they solve: skincare with an anti-acne claim in its product title grew 26.5%, and blackhead, oil-control and anti-wrinkle claims all outgrew a skincare category that slipped 1.0%, while sales under the broad moisturising claim fell 5.4%. Brands should build ranges around one clear result, anchored in the serums and cleansers that carried 31% and 19% of anti-acne sales in H1 2026 and extended to toners and body care, where the claim is spreading. In make-up they should favour the products that set and perfect a complexion, such as setting sprays at +32.2%, concealers at +29.3% and cushion, BB and CC products at +17.6%, over another foundation, which grew 6.0%. A result that can be shown on camera also suits the content-led channel through which these products are selling, as our article on what is growing shows product by product.

What should brands watch in the second half of 2026?#

Four things will decide whether the shape of China's beauty market described in Moojing Market Intelligence's H1 2026 report holds through the rest of the year: whether October stays the peak, whether growth picks up in Q4 2026, how the premium mix on content-led commerce moves, and whether result-led products spread to the established marketplaces.

October matters because the promotional bloc around it held two-fifths of annual sales in each year from 2023 to 2025, while the fourth quarter matters because the first seven months cannot tell us whether the slowdown reverses. On content-led commerce, the share of sampled premium skincare held by Chinese brands rose again in 2025, so the next round of international premium launches will be tested there, and on the established marketplaces the growth in result-led skincare and complexion make-up has yet to appear at all.

Each of the five recommendations, with the exhibits behind it, is set out in the full report, and our China beauty market intelligence page sets out what else we cover in the category.