Innovation Key to Healthy Growth of Cosmetics Industry

China’s cosmetics industry should be driven more by innovation instead of marketing tricks and advertising, industry experts and market watchers said today to call for healthy development of the sector.

Wang Zhuo, founder Paideia Capital and Shanghai Jahwa's ex-chief executive, said, "Drawing from the experience of cosmetics industry development in western countries, smaller and medium-sized firms have a greater potential to overthrow well-established giants."

Successful products would be coming from companies that manage to combine sharp consumer insights with critical thinking, as well as a stable management team that complement each other, he noted.

China cosmetics industry still has double-digit growth and more innovative products from small and medium sized companies would be better positioned to become the killer product in the next age, said Ge Wenyao, head of Shanghai International Fashion Federation and Shanghai Jahwa's former Chairman.

But China has yet to find a successful cosmetic product that truly relies on the intrinsic product value rather than marketing stunts, Wang added, noting that popular consumer products would be shifting from high-fashion to high-tech offerings, with digital technologies enabled consumers with better knowledge and access to products they desire.

Miao Yaoyang, general manager of Shanghai Pehchaolin Daily Chemical Co, also said that Chinese brands should leverage the underlying culture value and combine with core R&D capability to truly establish a competitive advantage.

"Most Chinese firms still need to improve their research and development capability and innovative mechanism to drive future growth," Wang said.