Can the home beauty device industry revive after a two-year extension of the new regulations?
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This article is from the WeChat official account: Economic Observer (ID: eeo com cn). The author is Xie Chuchu. The title is from Visual China.
The home beauty device industry has gained another two-year window period.
In March 2022, the National Medical Products Administration adjusted the content of the "Classification Catalog of Medical Devices", clarifying that radiofrequency therapy devices and radiofrequency skin therapy devices were included in the three categories of medical device catalog management. At that time, all household beauty devices on the market were managed according to the standards for small household appliances, but the standards were not mandatory. Since then, many top brands have started preparing for the registration of Class III medical devices in order to continue selling RF products. According to the new policy, manufacturers are not allowed to sell beauty devices if they are unable to obtain a Class III medical device registration certificate. The new policy will be implemented on April 1, 2024.
As the time limit approaches, there has been a big sale in the beauty device market, with products originally priced at over 3000 yuan reduced to a few hundred yuan, and manufacturers have also taken down RF products. The rapidly growing home beauty device industry has entered the regulatory era from the era of savage growth.
But just as brands are rushing to regain their sales qualifications and adjust their business direction, they have regained the policy window period. On July 8th, the National Medical Products Administration issued a notice on further clarifying the requirements for radiofrequency therapy equipment products. Starting from April 1st, 2026, products such as radiofrequency therapy equipment and radiofrequency skin therapy equipment in the 09-07-02 radiofrequency therapy (non ablation) equipment attachment of the "Notice on Adjusting Part of the Classification Catalogue of Medical Devices" (No. 30 of 2022) that have not obtained a medical device registration certificate in accordance with the law shall not be produced, imported, or sold.
On July 10th, the relevant person in charge of Miguang brand told the Economic Observer that "we are still understanding the specific details of the policy with the relevant departments, and the specific response strategies are not coming out so quickly. Recently, the bosses and colleagues in the product development department are also discussing it." An unnamed head beauty device brand leader said that the new announcement is "very sudden" for all brands.
Chen Liang, a senior beauty device industry expert and former brand manager of TriPollar in China, told Economic Observer that the delay of the new regulations means that the market regulatory authorities have given RF beauty device brands an extra two years of breathing space to prepare for medical device registration. But he believes that obtaining certification may not be the top priority for brands at present. Against the backdrop of overall declining consumer power, the top priority for brands is to "survive the cold winter".
Regarding the sudden delay of the new regulations, the head of the aforementioned beauty device brand stated that the vast majority of brands, including themselves, are still in the stage of understanding the news and cannot provide precise information on whether to re-launch RF products. "Most companies' business layouts (reports) have been disrupted."
The relevant person in charge of Miguang brand said that according to the documents released by the National Medical Products Administration, reselling RF products should be allowed, but what are the specific requirements? What is the difference from the previous regulations? We are still learning about it. The company is still studying the follow-up arrangements for whether to re-launch RF products.
In its interpretation of the announcement on the extension of the new regulations, the National Medical Products Administration stated that at present, the registration applicants for handheld radiofrequency therapy devices and radiofrequency skin therapy devices are mostly home appliance enterprises. Due to multiple factors such as the epidemic and the implementation of relevant standards, the time for product inspection and clinical trials has been extended, and the preparation and supplement of product registration and application materials still need some time.
On the basis of fully listening to the opinions of industry organizations and enterprises, combined with the actual research and development of products, and taking into account the safety of public use of medical devices and the needs of orderly industrial development, the National Medical Products Administration has issued Announcement No. 84, clarifying that from April 1, 2026, products such as radiofrequency therapy devices and radiofrequency skin therapy devices in the 09-07-02 radiofrequency therapy (non ablation) equipment attached to Announcement No. 30 that have not obtained a medical device registration certificate in accordance with the law shall not be produced, imported, or sold.
The announcement of the extension of the new regulations also shows: "For those who have obtained the registration certificate for Class II medical devices, the original registration certificate will continue to be valid during the validity period. If the original registration certificate expires before April 1, 2026, the registrant can apply for an extension of the original registration certificate to the original approval department, and the maximum extension period shall not exceed March 31, 2026." However, according to industry insiders, there are very few household beauty devices with Class II medical device registration certificates, usually large medical beauty equipment.
Previously, the new regulations were planned to be implemented from April 1, 2024, and many beauty device brands began clearance sales before this restriction time. A consumer once said that since the end of 2023, the price of Chupu products has "dropped". The original price of the beauty instrument of 3999 yuan is 2199 yuan in the official flagship store, while in the Tiktok promotion, the product is only 699 yuan. In February 2024, Chupu appeared the rumor of "running away" because the official flagship store of Tmall closed and the official WeChat official account was renamed. On February 27th, Chupu responded that this was mainly due to the company changing its general agent in China.
According to the Publicity of Clinical Trial Filing of International Cooperation on Human Genetic Resources in China released by the government affairs service platform of the Ministry of Science and Technology, four household beauty instrument brands, Miguang, Yameng, Huazhi and OGP Shiziji, were put on clinical trial filing in March and April 2023. As of now, no household beauty device brand has obtained a Class III medical device registration certificate.
On April 1, 2024, the new regulations were officially implemented, and RF home beauty devices had already been taken down one after another. Brands need to obtain certificates to resume work.
The person in charge of the Miguang brand stated that one of the most important goals of the company at present is to obtain a Class III medical device registration certificate for RF products, and the extension of the new regulations will not affect this goal. It also stated that according to the official progress announcement, Miguang is likely to be the first brand to obtain RF certification.
At present, household beauty devices can be divided into radio frequency, microcurrent, laser, and LED (light emitting diode) categories according to technical principles, among which radio frequency is a more important type. Industry insiders explain that RF products entered the market relatively early, with mature technology and sufficient clinical data and research support. There are also many manufacturers launching RF products, and users have a high awareness and acceptance of RF devices. As a result, the market share of RF products is relatively large.
After the announcement of the extension of the new regulations, Economic Observer reporters searched for "RF beauty devices" on Taobao and found that RF products have not yet been relisted.
The brand leader of the above-mentioned head beauty device explained that RF beauty devices were originally used in offline beauty salons and have very high energy, while household beauty devices cannot compare with the energy released by offline beauty salon instruments due to their limited area. After the new regulations were introduced, household beauty devices cannot be sold without reaching radio frequency energy. Currently, most of the household beauty devices on the market belong to microcurrent beauty devices.
The person in charge of the Miguang brand stated that obtaining the RF beauty device certificate is a very important goal for the company, but it is not the only key goal. In addition to beauty devices, Miguang also has other categories such as mirrors, hair removal devices, and skincare products, which existed before the policy was announced.
He added that Micron's philosophy has always been "precision skincare", which is a comprehensive solution that combines energy and ingredients. In addition to radio frequency, the energy here also involves light, heat, EMS (micro current), ultrasound, etc. Light corresponds to phototherapy masks/large row lights, light, heat, and EMS correspond to water cannons, and ultrasound and EMS correspond to ultrasound eggs. The products corresponding to different energy layouts were also planned before the policy was announced. "The strategy and specific strategies for the next step are still under discussion, but the long-term strategy of providing precise skincare solutions based on energy and ingredients will not change."
After international brands such as Yameng and Chupu entered the Chinese market in 2014, the Chinese home beauty device market experienced rapid growth. Even in 2023 after the introduction of the new regulations, the sales and sales growth of this category will still be rapid during the "Double 11" promotion period on the Tiktok platform, but the transaction price will decline year-on-year. According to statistics from third-party organizations, online sales of beauty devices in the first quarter of 2024 decreased by 32% year-on-year.
Chen Liang believes that obtaining certification may not necessarily be the most important goal for brands at present, 'survival' is the key. At present, the competition in the field of home beauty devices is very fierce, and the key factor is the relatively low technological barrier.
The currently popular products on the market, such as "collagen cannon", "big iron", and "big row lamp", use technology principles different from radio frequency.
According to the relevant person in charge of Miguang brand, "Collagen Cannon" is a technical concept proposed by Miguang, which belongs to a new use mode of RF (from sliding use with gel to sealing use with lattice facial mask). Later, other brands followed this category. Generally, "collagen gun" refers to "RF instrument used with grid facial mask for sealing". The "Big Iron" is a product launched by Jimeng, which initially belonged to the category of radiofrequency devices. Because the head looks like an iron, it was called the "Big Iron". Later, other brands also began to launch "Big Iron" beauty devices without radiofrequency. The "large row lights" use the more mainstream LED light source. Both Jimeng and Xiyou brands have launched the "Da Pai Deng" beauty device.
After experiencing low prices and large inventory, Chupu's products have returned to high prices. In March 2024, Chupu launched a new product called "Plastic Gold Carving Knife" with a price of 6999 yuan, which is generally higher than the industry average. As for why the pricing is so high, Chupu customer service personnel said that the product adopts integrated sound, light and electricity technology, involving E-choTech echo technology, LED red light technology, and full current technology, which is more comprehensive and efficient in technology. But Chen Liang said that the barriers to entry for these technologies are not high.
He stated that the beauty device market, like other non essential consumer goods industries, has experienced a decline in scale, with multiple brands facing operational pressure and even experiencing widespread losses. Although LED beauty devices are a new direction, LED itself has extremely low technical barriers, serious homogenization, and significant "involution". The future market opportunity lies in cost-effective products with precise effects and lower prices.
Internet celebrity brand Miguang has also been rumored to be bankrupt recently. On July 7th, Miguang responded that the company's business operations are stable and there are no operational issues; The company's routine organizational adjustments related to business restructuring have no impact on products, services, business cooperation, etc., and all business activities are progressing in an orderly manner. As for the specific routine organizational adjustments, as of the time of writing, Miguang has not provided a response.
This article is from the WeChat official account: Economic Observer (ID: eeo com cn), written by Xie Chuchu
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