The foam of the sunscreen is about to be punctured

虎嗅APP

2024-06-24 07:26Posted on the official account of Zhejiang Tiger Sniff APP

Produced by Tiger Sniff Commercial Consumer Group

Author: Qi Minqian

Editor|Miao Zhengqing

Header | Visual China

The summer just needs product sunscreen, and it is experiencing a fierce "scuffle".

The core reason for the formation of the "scuffle" is the imbalance of supply: there has been a big explosion in the number of sunscreen products in the past two years, and the market demand related to it is far less optimistic than many people imagined.

The owner of several cosmetics stores in a county in northern China told Tiger Sniff that sunscreen products enter the peak sales season in May every year, and this year his city is hot and exposed to the sun, but the sunscreen products sell very ordinary. "It's basically the same as the sales volume in 2023, but if you compare it with previous years, there is still a gap in sales." But the number of brands that contacted the boss who wanted to settle in only increased, "In the early years, when I cooperated with the brand, I had to make the payment first, but now I don't need it at all." ”

In addition to the overall lack of sales, the owner of the aforementioned cosmetics store also mentioned that the number of people buying affordable sunscreen has increased significantly this year. "In my own store, domestic brands that are basically about 100 yuan sell best." According to her, last year's expensive sunscreen could still be sold, and this year's sales are basically affordable trendy domestic brands.

Originally, many people in the industry regarded 2024 as a "big year for sunscreen", but the fierce competition in the market, the price band dropped, and the rise of new traffic e-commerce platforms...... A combination of factors has made the sunscreen market turbulent and chaotic, with some new brands suddenly rushing into the top few, but many more rushing in with anticipation.

The number of products exploded

"This year, it is clear that there are a lot more sunscreen products on the market, especially white-label products." The head of the brand in China said. A veteran of the cosmetics industry also revealed that there will indeed be a round of outbreaks in the number of sunscreen products in 2024.

The most direct reason is that the Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Cosmetics, which came into effect in 2021, stipulate that cosmetics used for sunscreen are special cosmetics and can only be produced after approval and registration by the relevant authorities. "After the new regulations come out, many products will have to be redone if they want to be launched. In 2023, some leading domestic brands will begin to launch newly registered products, and the products that passed the registration last year will also be launched and promoted this year. The above-mentioned industry insiders said.

In terms of the number of registered products, the number of new registrations of both domestic and imported sunscreen products will increase by more than 70% year-on-year in 2023. Considering that it takes a certain period from product registration to production and listing, the industry generally believes that a large part of the newly registered products in 2023 will be launched in 2024.

In addition to the "old brands", there are also quite a few new entrants in this round of sunscreen craze. According to statistics from Huatai Securities, as of the end of February 2024, nearly one-third of the companies with national special cosmetics registration certificates for sunscreen have been newly approved since 2023. This can also be roughly understood as nearly one-third of the companies have only laid out the sunscreen market for the first time in the past two years.

New and old players have laid out sunscreen products, and they are interested in the development speed and potential of this category.

At present, sun protection is becoming a rigid need for more and more people. Xiaohongshu officials revealed to Tiger Sniff that since the beginning of summer in 2024, the number of notes posted on sunscreen-related topics on the Xiaohongshu platform has increased by 150% year-on-year.

Based on the demand for sunscreen, the market has derived two types of products: "hard sunscreen" and "soft sunscreen": the former is mainly sunscreen clothing and sunscreen umbrellas; The latter are mainly sunscreen and sunscreen spray products.

With certain rigid demand attributes, coupled with obvious efficacy, sunscreen products have become a relatively "eye-catching" existence in the entire beauty and personal care industry. Euromonitor data shows that after 2020, the growth rate of the global sunscreen product market is significantly higher than the overall growth rate of beauty and personal care.

In terms of regions, the growth rate of mainland sunscreen products far exceeds the global level. According to data, from 2012 to 2021, the compound annual growth rate of sunscreen products in mainland China was 10.5%, while that in the world it was less than 1%. In 2023, the market size of sunscreen cosmetics in mainland China will reach 14.8 billion yuan, and this data is expected to exceed 30 billion yuan by 2027.

In addition to the seemingly large market potential, the R&D and production process of sunscreen is also relatively simple. "On the whole, there is not much difficulty in making sunscreen technology, what kind of raw materials are used and how to make a compound is the core of the competition between different products." Industry insiders said.

Compared to other cosmetics, sunscreen also has a unique feature: it is somewhere between skin care and beauty products. "So, whether it's skin care products or beauty products, many brands will have sunscreen products." Said a cosmetic formulator.

The combination of these factors has contributed to the popularity of sunscreen products.

Playing the "knockout round"

Although there are many people who deploy sunscreen products, the market has not surprised them.

According to Mojing market intelligence data, in Q1 2024, the GMV of sunscreen products on leading e-commerce platforms will decline by double digits; Although the better-performing e-commerce platforms have maintained growth, the year-on-year growth rate is very different from that of the whole of 2023.

There are a variety of complex factors behind the cold sunscreen market. "First of all, the impact of the consumer environment, although sunscreen has obvious effects, but like other cosmetics, it is only an optional consumer product for many people, and it is easier to be abandoned." Industry insiders said.

The popularity of "hard sunscreen" products such as sunscreen clothing and sunscreen masks is also impacting the market for "soft sunscreen" products such as sunscreen. According to iResearch data, from 2020 to 2022, the market size of mainland sunscreen clothing has increased from 53.5 billion yuan to 67.5 billion yuan in just two years.

"Fully armed" pedestrians with sunscreen Source: Visual China

"Now there are sunscreen clothing that can cover the whole body, and if consumers are tightly wrapped from beginning to end, they don't need to wear sunscreen, so we are competing in the entire sunscreen market, and the opponents are not only cosmetics." A person in charge of a sunscreen company said. In her opinion, the relatively weak market for sunscreen products this year is also related to the rain that has been falling in the south. "For example, we are in Guangzhou, which started to be hot and sunny in April in previous years, but this year it has been raining, and sunscreen products are selling averagely."

In the whole sunscreen product, the sunscreen spray slides more significantly than the sunscreen.

According to the person in charge of the Narisi China brand, the overall sales of sunscreen spray have fallen by about 40% this year. The immediate trigger is that some bloggers have previously said that sunscreen spray may cause "white lung". Although this statement is not scientific and comprehensive, and many brands do not have this hidden danger, "but the cost of explaining to consumers is very high, and it takes a certain amount of time for consumers to accept." ”

In such a market environment, sunscreen products are accelerating the reshuffle. An obvious change is that the once popular Japanese sunscreen products have been replaced by new domestic brands.

In an offline Watsons store in Beijing, Tiger Sniff found that Anesa was placed in a relatively inconspicuous position on the shelves of sunscreen products, and the most conspicuous position on the shelves was reserved for domestic brands. According to data, in 2023, the Thai brand Mistine will also replace Anessa (Tiger Sniff Note: Previously, Anessa has been the No. 1 sunscreen brand in mainland China for 11 consecutive years) to become the No. 1 sunscreen brand in sales.

Mojing market insight data shows that in the first quarter of this year, on the Tmall and Taobao platforms, six domestic brands such as Winona, Huaxizi, and Proya rushed to the top 20 positions of sunscreen products, accounting for a total of 12% of the market share. On the Douyin platform, the performance of domestic products is more eye-catching. "Almost all of the most powerful domestic brands in the industry this year have emerged on Douyin, such as Mekang Fandel and Liusimu." An industry insider said.

In this round of industry reshuffle, many products have even been eliminated.

According to the "Future Traces" report, in the first quarter of this year, the number of sunscreen products on the Douyin platform was 1,359, which is nearly 700 fewer than the whole year of 2023, which also means that many products have actively or passively left the sunscreen "battlefield".

Sun protection has to withstand too much

In the case of extremely fierce competition in "more monks and less porridge", sunscreen brands can basically only open the book in an "all-round" way.

The first is the volume price. Mojing market intelligence data shows that in the first quarter of this year, the average price of Tmall sunscreen products dropped from 140 yuan in 2023 to 123 yuan; The average price of Douyin and Taobao has increased, but both have remained at around 87 yuan.

According to practitioners, the current sunscreen products for the mass market are basically within 100 yuan, and when catching up with the big promotion, the price of Anesa has also dropped to about 100 yuan, and at the peak of a few years ago, the price of the product can even exceed 200 yuan. In the case of price reductions by heads such as Anosa, most brands can only follow the price reduction.

"All major e-commerce platforms have launched the price matching function, and the price is very transparent. My feeling is that 30 yuan - 50 yuan is the most competitive price band for sunscreens, and some brands can even do 19.9 yuan for two, which is not a white label. The above-mentioned practitioner mentioned.

In addition to the price, sunscreen products also have to roll up the efficacy and ingredients. Functionally speaking, the basic function of sunscreen products is sunscreen, and there are two "indicators" to measure their sunscreen effect, one is SPF, and the other is PA. To put it simply, the larger the SPF value, the better the effect of the product against sunburn and sunburn; The more PA "+" signs, the better the suntan effect of the product.

Although considering factors such as user feeling and skin acceptance, the higher the SPF and PA values, the better, industry insiders told Tiger Sniff that many brands will pull these two values to the maximum. This also means that "strong sunscreen" can no longer become a differentiated competitive advantage of sunscreen. As a result, many brands are adding more features to their sunscreen products.

"There are two mainstream directions for adding functions to sunscreen, one is to rely on the base makeup, in addition to sunscreen, it should also have the function of brightening and color repair, which can be used as foundation, isolation and other products; The second is to lean in the direction of skin care products, in addition to sunscreen, there should be moisturizing, skin nourishment and other functions. A person in charge of a sunscreen brand said.

Making sunscreen take on more efficacy is not only the need for sunscreen brands to cope with market competition, but also related to the characteristics of sunscreen and the market environment.

Sunscreen itself is a product with a very obvious seasonality, so the market cycle is relatively short. "As a brand, we definitely want to extend the life cycle of a product as much as possible, and only when sunscreen products have other functions can we break through the use scenarios and extend the life cycle of consumers." said the person in charge. In her opinion, consumers are now paying more and more attention to cost performance, and sunscreen superimposed on other functions can allow consumers to "spend one money and do two things", which is also the general trend.

A number of practitioners told Tiger Sniff that compared with products, how to market sunscreen products is the most difficult and competitive place.

In terms of channels, the pattern of sunscreen products in offline channels is relatively stable. Channel profits, payment collection cycles, etc. are all factors to consider in retail terminals, so each brand fights for the overall strength of the company behind it.

In online channels, sunscreen brands change faster, and marketing methods are not only emerging, but there are even a lot of "chaos". Some practitioners revealed to Tiger Sniff that some sunscreen products that have a fast volume on the e-commerce platform are very similar to the early micro-businesses: it will send a slice video of the star recommending this product on the matrix number, and at the same time guide the "XX star recommendation" in the comment area, but in fact, the star has never recommended this product, and the slice video also comes from the mixed editing of the material, "Replace the things recommended by the star with their own products." ”

One of the core reasons why the sunscreen product market is difficult to do is that consumers are becoming less and less loyal to brands. "The churn rate is getting high, and every month new brands come out to compete with you, so brands are trying their best to attract consumers." Industry insiders said.

In this all-round open-book market, many manufacturers have to pursue short-term use of various marketing methods to push the product out, as for the longer-term "branding" is being postponed.

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