Double Eleven 2021 Trends: Strong Spending Driven by the Young; Winoa and QUADHA are the Up-and-Coming Chinese Beauty Brands
The annual sales event “Double Eleven 2021” was held over the 11 days leading up to November 11, known as “Singles’ Day” in China. Although the Chinese economy is facing challenges such as the Hengda Group’s financial crisis and power shortages, the purchasing power of Chinese consumers remains strong. Here is a report on notable consumer trends in the cosmetics industry at this year’s Double Eleven.
Unlike previous years, excessive discounting disappeared from Double Eleven in 2021, and perhaps in response to the Chinese government’s clampdown on IT companies, e-commerce giant Alibaba has stopped reporting on its rapidly rising transaction value. In addition, various media reports emphasized Alibaba’s sustainability efforts, such as its “Green Corner” featuring energy-saving home appliances, giving the impression that the event was less of an all-out sales bonanza. However, looking at the final sales figures and other results, all the platforms performed well.
Alibaba Group’s GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) during the Double Eleven period (November 1–11, 2021) was US$83.54 billion, up 8.5% from the previous year, and a record high despite the shrinking growth rate. According to the company’s press release, 290,000 brands participated in this year’s Double Eleven, 65% of which were small and medium enterprises.
In addition, according to Tianxia Netsho, for the first time in history, brands with a contract value of more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.569 billion) on the e-commerce platform Tmall appeared in this year’s event. These were L’Oreal Group and Apple.
On the other hand, JD.com’s (Jingdong Group) GMV, the second largest in the industry, recorded a 28.6% increase, surpassing Alibaba’s, and grew significantly to US$54.67 billion. The contract value of 43,276 stores tripled from the previous year, and the number of new small and medium-sized brands participating in the sale more than quadrupled from last year.
Despite the lack of excitement in terms of sale frenzy, GMV on each platform exceeded the previous year’s level due to the purchasing power of “90-hou” (born after 1990) and “00-hou”. According to Alibaba’s press release, the 90- and 00-empresses accounted for 45% of all buyers, with the number of 00-empresses, in particular, increasing by 25% from last year.
In addition, according to JD.com’s Weibo post, the age distribution of buyers during the first four hours of pre-order sales on October 20 showed a 70% increase in the 18–35 age group compared to the previous year.
Winona, the winning Chinese beauty brand on Tmall
While foreign brands were the only ones to exceed 10 billion yuan in sales on Tmall, Chinese brands were the ones that made the most progress. There were 36 brands with over 1 billion yuan (US$156.9 million) in sales, most of which were Chinese brands, including Xiaomi Technology, Huawei Technologies and Winona, a beauty brand founded in 2012 and developed with dermatologists to treat sensitive skin with natural plant ingredients.
While Chinese brands did well, cross-border e-commerce platform Tmall Global also did well, with 235 foreign brands exceeding 10 million yuan (US$1.569 million) in value, and the number of brands exceeding 1 million yuan (US$156,900) up 46% from the previous year.
JD.com also saw strong sales of beauty brands, with local media reporting that during the four-hour pre-order period from 8 p.m. on October 31, the site sold a day’s worth of beauty products compared to the previous year. 265 beauty brands on JD.com saw their contract value increase more than tenfold during the double eleven period compared to the previous year.
Despite the lack of festivity, live commerce was still a big deal this year. On the live-streaming platform Taobao Live, more than 100,000 brands conducted live commerce, with 43 brands surpassing 100 million yuan (US$15.69 million) in transaction value, and 510 brands exceeding 10 million yuan. By genre, women’s clothing was the largest, with cosmetics coming in second.
Influence of Top KOLs Unabated
As of 8 p.m. on November 1, the first day, the GMV of cosmetics on Tmall had already surpassed that of the first three days of last year.
Estee Lauder and L’Oreal exceeded 1 billion yuan (US$156.9 million) in sales on November 1, while brands that exceeded 500 million yuan (US$78.48 million) included Lancôme, Shiseido, The History of Whoo, Guerlain, OLAY, and Winona, a Chinese brand.
There were 36 brands that crossed the 100 million yuan (US$15.69 million) mark.
Among the Chinese brands were PROYA, Dr. Yu, Ulike, CHANDO, UNISKIN, Perfect Diary, Florasis and PECHOIN. The most notable of these is the emerging skincare brand QUADHA.
QUADHA, which was launched in 2018 by Hua Xi Biotech, is characterized by its hyaluronic acid-infused product concept, claiming to be an anti-aging product, and delivers its products to beauty salons as well. QUADHA’s sales reached US$52 million on October 20, the day pre-orders started. The Essence collection was particularly popular, selling more than US$20 million alone.
The reason for this hit was the use of KOLs. Austin, a top KOL, was featured in an Internet program where he went to various places in China to develop cosmetics with local companies based on requests from local consumers, which greatly raised the profile of QUADHA.
Austin also sold QUADHA through his own live commerce site. The influence of the top KOLs was so great that 92% of the sales of QUADHA’s Tmall flagship store during the double eleven period came from this live commerce. In addition, QUADHA’s sales were by far the highest among all the products Austin handled on October 20.
Foreign Brands Dominate the Top 10 by Genre
Tianxia Netsho announced the top 10 sales by genre on Tmall during the Double Eleven period. According to the report , the top 10 skincare categories in terms of sales value were as follows, with the exception of Winona, all of which were foreign brands, and three brands from the L’Oréal Group, which stood out for their strength.
№1 L’Oreal
№2 Estee Lauder
№3 Lancôme
№4 The History of Whoo
№5 Shiseido
№6 Winona
№7 OLAY
№8 SK-II
№9 De La Mer
№10 Helena Rubinstein
Looking at the top 10 brands in the makeup category in terms of sales, Perfect Diary and Florasis were the leading emerging brands in China, but all the other brands were foreign brands.
№1 Yves Saint-Laurent
№2 Estee Lauder
№3 3CE
№4 Perfect Diary
№5 Florasis
№6 Giorgio Armani Beauty
№7 Lancôme
№8 M.A.C.
№9 Clé de Peau Beauté
№10 Givenchy
In the fragrance category, which has seen rapid market growth in China in recent years, two emerging Chinese brands ranked in the top five in terms of sales, indicating their popularity, but as in other categories, the rest were foreign brands.
№1 Jo Malone London
№2 THE BEAST
№3 Tom Ford Beauty
№4 BOITOWN
№5 Yves Saint-Laurent
№6 Maison Margiela Fragrance
№7 Bvlgari
№8 Giorgio Armani Beauty
№9 Diptyque
№10 Penhaligan
Text: Ching Li Tor
Original text (Japanese): Team Roboteer
