How Chinese white label beauty brands are rising the ranks

White label goods have emerged as a potent threat to established players in China across categories as diverse as fashion, FMCG, and appliances, dominating retail as well as ecommerce. However, the most keenly contested space has been brands in the beauty and more specifically C-beauty category.

White label originally meant retailer-owned private labels, such as ASDA’s George or Costco’s Kirkland. But today, the term extends to encompass any smaller non-name-brands that are picking up traffic, especially on e-commerce and social commerce platforms such as Douyin, TikTok’s China-based sister app.

The rise of white label brands in China

The media first caught on to the rise of white label products in April 2024. They emerged from manufacturers who were part of the supply chain for established brands and could thus assure consumers of their quality. Meanwhile, with “affordable substitute” and “rational consumption”being prevalent consumer sentiments, these OEM-turned-labels quickly found an audience.

As e-commerce platforms pursued the lowest prices on the web for the 618 sales festival, white labels flourished. From sales livestream channels to platforms such as Alibaba enabling ordering from 1688 merchants (usually manufacturers) directly from Taobao, it was easier than ever to buy white-label goods. Douyin’s fastest growing brands list included Dr Wen, VC and Creator. Dr Wen topped the list with 13,388.67% growth. However, sales fell significantly after losing huge exposure in the first half of 2024.

Analysis pointed to the huge exposure and traffic driven by platforms, which made the brand so popular. Many also feel it was a transfer of trust from brands to channels—either the streamer or the e-commerce platforms selling these goods.

The reasons driving the decline

After the 618 sales, e-commerce platforms began to move away from absolute low prices and focus instead on gross merchandise volume (GMV). According to reports, white-label brands also began to reshuffle among themselves. While some fell victim to unsustainable price wars, others tried to establish themselves. When the dust settled, established C-beauty brands such as KANS and Proya remain at the top of sales rankings. While some of their white-label competitors have also made it to the list, there has been a significant reshuffling among these brands.

In December, it was reported that Douyin, one of the key platforms for white labels, confirmed it would manage brands and white labels under one umbrella, albeit as two distinct groups. For brands, the key performance indicator would be GMV, while for white label goods, it would be the number of orders. The rationale behind the decision was that over the past two years, many of the white labels had grown to become brands, and so having a centralised management would help with the dynamism between the two.

How white label brands regained their mojo

In January 2025, white-label beauty appears to have made a return. The latest ranking of the top 20 skincare brands on Douyin shows that C-beauty brand KANS made it to the top and Proya in second place. Meanwhile, Chinese brand Guyu overtook L’Oréal to be number 3. 13 brands on the top 20 list are Chinese.

7 of the 13 Chinese brands are considered white labels, from DCEXPORT, Lefilleo to HEXKIN, compared to only 3 in January 2024. Seven white labels including 3ZT (三资堂), Xiaoshumei and ELL made it to the top 20 cosmetics/fragrance/beauty tool ranking. 3ZT grew significantly since entering the beauty ranking in December 2023 and topped the Douyin list in both December 2024 and January 2025.

However, if compared with 2024 lists, the white label names have changed significantly with familiar brands such as Joyruqo and Dr Wen dropping out of the top 20, a sharp contrast to when Joyruqo ranked number 2 after KANS in January 2024.

As white-label brands are exempt from the effort of maintaining a brand, they are also limited to a short-term approach, in beauty or other sectors. Most of their sales come from powerful ads and large-scale exposure from platforms, usually for certain hero products or particular livestreamers and influencers. However, as they all focus on the top trending categories of items, it becomes hard for them to differentiate between each other. When asked about whether it is likely for white labels to turn into brands and become sustainable, pundits express their concerns mostly around how deeply interconnected these labels are with their channels and platforms and the short-term mindset they run on.