Covid-19 had a significant impact on physical sales of beauty products that not all brands could offset by increasing their online sales. Especially brands such as Benefit and Etude House were already suffering from a disconnect between their positioning, the beauty market, and their consumers.
Benefit Cosmetics has been in China for 14 years as a mid-range brand with a high-end price point. The American vintage-styled brand did not fully consider the Chinese beauty market’s premiumization and lost its position to luxury beauty brands.
ETUDE House counted for a long time on the K-Beauty popularity: cute, healthy, and affordable brands. Today, domestic brands such as Perfect Diary have a better grasp of what’s appealing to Chinese consumers.
What is their reconquest strategy for China?
Benefit and Etude House are using beauty retailers such as SEPHORA and The Colorist for their offline sales strategy. These brands are also focusing their efforts on e-commerce activities to re-connect with Chinese consumers.
