Men's Grooming in China

PROSPECTS

Growth in men’s grooming fuelled by increasingly appearance-conscious male consumers

Urban Chinese males are becoming increasingly appearance-conscious and concerned that an unkempt, ungroomed appearance will have a detrimental impact on their chances of social, romantic and career success. Men’s grooming products are seeing dynamic growth across categories, ranging from basic personal hygiene products to skin care and cosmetics.

Men’s grooming products undergoing premiumisation

With high levels of disposable income, male consumers, especially Chinese millennials, are spending increasing amounts on personal grooming products, and are trading up from basic, traditional men’s grooming categories such as shaving to less-traditional categories such as skin care and fragrances. The men’s premium skin care and men’s premium fragrance categories are the two main beneficiaries of this trend.

Men’s shaving supported by key trends

The core demand for men’s shaving products comes from two age groups in China. The first is consumers aged 20-35 - young Chinese males who favour the “Little Fresh Meat” trend and aim to emulate the relatively effeminate Chinese male heartthrobs who boast the largest social-media followings and significantly influence the spending of China’s millennials.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Manufacturers target high-end demand with an enriched men’s grooming offer

Major manufacturers are looking to adapt their strategies to evolving market conditions. Many brands see men’s product lines as an under-explored “blue ocean”, with young males becoming as important to success as female consumers.

Growing focus on gender-differentiated marketing

Recognising the difference between male and female consumers, major brands are capitalising on gender-differentiated marketing campaigns in the Chinese market. In addition to launching advertising campaigns and deploying a range of traditional marketing tools, including signing top celebrities to appear in TV ads and TV show sponsorships, many players offer in-store and online product sampling and sweat tests.

Major players tailoring marketing to men

Market giant, L’Oréal’s mass-market male skin care brand, L’Oréal Men Expert, looked to tap into the growing popularity of eSports amongst younger male consumers by sponsoring the S7 eSports competition. Kiehls opened up a cafe within its shop in Beijing Taikoo Li at the end of 2017 with a Harley-Davidson Motorcycle theme, which had the look of a neon-lit apothecary for millennial males.

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