Male beauty products see eye-popping growth in China

We believe that the rise of Chinese male beauty ranks amongst the most important macro trends we have encountered in over 20 years of activity in the beauty scene.

So begins the recently issued Male Beauty Report from brand consultancy Air Paris. Below, we've selected three graphics that highlight:

• Impressive sales-growth figures for male beauty products.
• The growing acceptance of male makeup
• The current penetration of various products among the post-95 generation.

The full report delves much further into the market opportunities, exploring evolving beauty routines, delineating shopper archetypes and offering advice on how to succeed in this growing area.

The report concludes with the following five parting thoughts:

The male beauty market represents the ultimate opportunity space for new brands. We believe that local, digitally native, direct-to-consumer brands will dominate the market and see a huge potential for acquisitions of new male brands by established beauty players, not unlike the 2016 Unilever acquisition of Dollar Shave Club.

Just like sportswear brands spearheaded the early development of the male grooming and fragrance market, we expect popular male fashion and lifestyle brands to leverage their accumulated equity and customer base to expand into beauty either on their own or through collaborations.

As of today, male beauty products still largely mimic their female equivalents. We see a huge potential for more fundamental innovations in formulations, packaging and modes of application to fit more closely male lifestyles and behaviors.

The male search for convenience will fuel the rise of customization and subscription services that will provide the ultimate one-stop beauty solution.

While male ‘beauty occasions’ are currently mostly limited to work and dating, we expect the male beauty market to mimic the female market with multiple skincare solutions and ‘makeup looks’ for specific moments and occasions (Ex: sports, travel, season specific products…)