China’s latest: The beauty of solo makeup booths
In China, services that allow you to rent tiny spaces are booming. Sing your worries away in a karaoke-for-one booth, or take a nap in a sleeping pod to momentarily escape the outside world. So it was only a matter of time before we got a solo cubicle for putting on makeup — replete with cosmetics and styling appliances — and it’s finally here.
Enter 17Beauty, a “sharing cosmetics booth” aimed at women between the ages of 25 and 35. These small, single-person booths represent a unique, new way of providing spaces and lending products for beauty needs. Each comes equipped with all the necessary cosmetics and appliances for applying or removing makeup.
The company behind 17Beauty is Beijing’s Meishi Meike Technology Ltd. CEO Han Shuqi says she hit upon the idea of providing sanitary and convenient makeup spaces for women several years ago. After thoroughly analysing the issues and conditions of the market, she took a leave of absence from her postgraduate degree at the University of Southern California in July 2018 and launched her business. Since then, the company has installed booths in shopping complexes, subway stations and airports throughout China, and plans to install 300 more booths this year in the major cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
To use a 17Beauty booth, you first scan a QR code from your smartphone at an outdoor scanner to have your account recognized. Once you select your usage time and make payment through your phone, the booth opens up.
Inside you will find a dressing table, chair, full-body mirror, hair straightener and dryer, as well as makeup items such as foundation, eye shadow and lipstick. For skincare, you have moisturisers, cleansers and even a face steamer. There are many different cosmetics brands, all of which are popular in China. Similar to unmanned convenience stores, the solitary makeup booth also has a crime prevention system — products are chained to prevent theft while security cameras keep a watch for suspicious behavior.
The lighting color within the booth can be adjusted, so you can apply your makeup to suit the lighting setting of wherever you head off to next, whether it be a restaurant, a bar or somewhere with natural lighting. Features like aroma diffusers also allow you to further customize the tiny space. Indeed, the way you can adjust the space to your liking is a key element of the 17Beauty experience.
As the end of the session approaches, an automated voice reminds you of the remaining minutes. Sessions range from 15 minutes for 28 yuan (4.10 USD) to 45 minutes for 58 yuan (8.50 USD), making them slightly more expensive than the usual rent-a-box businesses.
17Beauty’s revenue doesn’t just come from customer usage fees but also depends on advertising within the booth and tie-ups with cosmetics manufacturers. The details of their business model have not been made public. However, partnerships with major cosmetics brands lay the ground for future potential, such as special promotions for new products, collaborative product development and actual selling of products within the booth.
The booth-renting industry is certainly on its way up in China. Most famous are the “mini-karaoke booths” planted in many shopping centers and facilities. Other types of booths come equipped with WiFi, a TV and a couch that are perfect for quiet study time or to chill out, and can also serve as temporary offices for digital nomads. There are also sleeping pods designed for taking a quick nap.
As these booth businesses take off, 17Beauty stands to realize large gains as it expands in more locations. Once it has achieved a greater presence in China’s bigger cities, the devices have the potential to act as powerful beauty media devices in the offline world. Although the current business model is based on usage fees, in-booth advertising and partnerships, having the ability to authenticate individuals via a smartphone app also means the booths have great prospects as devices for collecting customer data.
Big data and artificial intelligence in China is more advanced than most other countries, and the process of extracting user interests and preferences and using them for commercial purposes is increasingly common. Compared to other rent-a-booth services, 17Beauty’s usage fees are pricier, but as more and more booths become a familiar sight in China’s cities, it will be worth keeping an eye out to see if these prices will be accepted by women in China.
Translation: Denyse Yeo
Original text (Japanese): Team Roboteer
