The professional skin care market in China grows by nearly 6%, higher than the global market growth of 5% in 2017. China is also the largest market for professional skin care products, accounting for over 35% of the global sales in 2017. Boosted by the robust performance of the medical care providers and retail channels, the Chinese market records the highest growth since 2012.
The Chinese professional skin care market is highly fragmented, dominated by local brands, such as Amitabha, Chlitina, and Jourdeness, but also international players, such as SkinCeuticals, Decléor, and NeoStrata. Although accounting only for a little over one-tenth of the Chinese market, international brands continue to thrive, recording higher growth than local brands and advancing at a healthy rate of over 12%. Of all the brands, SkinCeuticals posts by far the highest growth of 100%, securing a place among the top five leaders in 2017.
Like China, the South Korean market is also fragmented, with many players across the region and no single brand with a convincing leader position. In 2017, the top 10 brands capture over 30% of the professional skin care market, with most of them being local brands. Market leader Klapp successfully enters the CJ home shopping channel and becomes the second largest brand in the retail channel while also maintaining its leading position in the beauty institutes and spas channel.
Beauty institutes and spas remain the largest channel across both countries; however, the channel records the lowest growth. The growing demand for non-surgical procedures and increase in consumer visits to physicians’ offices supports the outstanding performance of the medical care providers channel in both countries. However, the retail channel is also picking up as online sales continue to flourish in both countries. Tmall and WeChat become popular online channels for sales and promotion in China while many marketers, such as CMS LAB and DMCK, are setting up authorized stores on online platforms in South Korea.
Specialty treatments/serums registers the highest growth as consumers desire products with stronger formulations that tend to be more efficacious. Several new product launches hit the market in 2017 treating skin concerns like aging, hyperpigmentation, acne, and dehydration.
New Specialty Treatments and Serums Launched in China, 2017
In South Korea, sun care products is the fastest growing product type with various new introductions.
Key New Sun Care Product Launches in South Korea, 2017
To learn more about the professional skin care market, please refer to our annual Professional Skin Care Global Series report covering all consumable topical skin care products sold through and used in professional channels of distribution. Europe, China, and South Korea volumes are now available while the United States will follow. To complete this picture, the third edition of Physician-dispensed Skin Care U.S.: Perception and Satisfaction Survey will provide you with an objective view of how the leading skin care brands are rated on several different attributes according to how doctors rank their needs and interests.
