Image source @Visual China

By New Consumer Think Tank | Author: Wang Qixuan | Editor: Zhu Tian

According to the "Baidu X JD.com 618 Consumption Trend Insight Report", the GMV of RF beauty devices increased by 500% year-on-year during this year's 618.

Meanwhile, this year's Douyin Double 11 beauty report shows that the beauty instrument category GMV surged 2108% year-over-year.

Home beauty devices are gaining traction among consumers and winning favor in the capital market.

In the past two years, well-known institutions such as Meihua Capital, Tencent Investment, Xiaomi Group, Shunwei Capital, and IDG Capital have invested in the beauty device track.

They have backed emerging domestic brands including AMIRO, FLOSSOM, JOVS, MESMOOTH, BIOLAB, Huafanxi, and CosBeauty.

According to data from Guoshu, the domestic beauty device market shows a clear localization trend.

60% of the top 10 brands on Douyin in terms of sales share are Chinese brands.

Over the past decade, the market has long been dominated by foreign brands such as Ya-Man, Zeus, and Tripollar.

The "2020-2026 China Beauty Instrument Industry Market Size Research and Development Trend Analysis Report" released by Zhiyan Consulting shows that the domestic beauty device production growth rate exceeds 20%.

The home beauty device segment may be at a stage of explosive growth for domestic brands.

This article focuses on the home beauty device track, inviting Fang Junping, founder of Gengxiang Biotechnology, and Dr. Zhang Yang, an RF medical technology expert to discuss four questions:

1. How large is China's home beauty device market?

2. What consumer needs does this niche market address?

3. What kind of brands can capture consumer mindshare?

4. What problems need urgent solutions in the home beauty device industry?

Hot capital, fast growth — the billion-yuan track is booming

China's beauty device industry started relatively late.

After more than a decade of development, the usage scenario has expanded from professional beauty salons to home settings.

In 2013, US-based Clarisonic and Sweden's FOREO entered the Chinese market, marking the start of the domestic beauty device market.

During that period, products were mainly used in beauty salons, and foreign brands dominated.

In 2015, the medical aesthetics industry began to attract capital attention.

Beauty devices became essential for light medical beauty and daily skincare.

Domestic brands began to emerge as e-commerce boomed, especially during the "Double 11" shopping fever.

The domestic beauty device industry entered a phase of rapid growth.

Scenarios gradually shifted to home use, but at that time beauty devices were still "luxury" items with limited user circles.

From 2019 to the present, the "she economy" and "stay-at-home economy" have risen.

Social commerce platforms like Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu have spurred the home beauty device market into vigorous development.

Home beauty devices have entered ordinary households, prices have dropped significantly, and users have become more knowledgeable about technology, principles, efficacy, and parameters — a sign of industry maturity.

The development of beauty devices has been rapid. According to the Qianzhan Industry Research Institute, the home beauty device market in China was about 10 billion yuan in 2021, and is expected to reach 25.1 billion to 37.4 billion yuan by 2025.

Tianyancha data shows that as of July 2022, there are more than 25,000 companies related to "beauty devices".

Nearly 18,000 of them were registered within 1–5 years, accounting for over 70%.

Searching "beauty device" on Taobao displays over 100 brands, with the top-ranked product exceeding 10,000 monthly sales.

On the capital side, according to a Jumeili.com tally: there were 16 funding rounds in the beauty device field since last year, 6 of which occurred this year. Most rounds were tens of millions of yuan, and three brands reached the hundred-million-yuan level.

Source: Jumeili official WeChat public account

These numbers highlight the continued rapid growth of beauty devices in China.

New Consumer Think Tank believes the rapid rise of home beauty devices stems from the following factors:

1. "Pampering economy", "she economy" and "stay-at-home economy" ignite consumption.

Women have become the main spending force and increasingly invest in their external appearance.

Skincare products alone can no longer satisfy beauty needs — home beauty devices have won women's favor.

In addition, the "stay-at-home economy" has extended people's time at home, creating ample usage scenarios and fueling rapid growth.

2. Full satisfaction of consumer demands.

Home beauty devices offer cost-effectiveness, convenience, and full functionality.

Compared to premium cosmetics or professional beauty institutions, they are more affordable.

They save time and money by eliminating appointments and travel.

They can be used long-term, require simple operation, and provide skincare, firming, hydration, whitening, massage, brightening, and wrinkle repair at home — anytime, anywhere.

3. Reshaping the underlying logic of skincare.

Fang Junping, founder of Gengxiang Biotechnology, says that with rising living standards the demand for beauty continues to upgrade.

Looking at the history of skincare: initially simple cleansing and fragrance were enough, giving rise to soaps.

Then came skincare products, makeup, perfumes and personal care, making beauty more efficient.

In the 1980s, the world entered the cosmeceutical era, with functional skincare providing brightening and spot-fading effects.

Now, with technological development and fast-paced lifestyles, long-term functional skincare cannot meet consumer demands.

Technologies such as RF, laser, and ultrasound used in the medical field are now applied to medical aesthetics.

The birth of home beauty devices marks another democratization of medical technology to meet demands for faster and more powerful results.

Safety and efficacy are the lifelines of home beauty device products.

Because the home beauty device market is not yet mature, it offers opportunities for new brands to grow rapidly.

China's home beauty device market continues to expand, with overseas brands holding the high end and domestic emerging brands quickly gaining ground.

Luxury beauty brands are also breaking through, attracting diverse players hoping to gain a share:

Imported brands: Ya-Man, Tripollar, Medusa, NuFace, ReFa, etc.

Local emerging brands: AMIRO, FLOSSOM, NEBULYFT, BIOLAB, Femooi, CosBeauty.

Beauty brands launching devices: Shiseido, Lancôme, P&G, Florasis.

Traditional home appliance players: Panasonic, Bear, etc.

Low-cost OEM devices around RMB 500 or even less.

Foreign brands entered the Chinese market early and hold top positions.

But local brands are emerging as strong challengers, each with its unique growth path.

(I) Ya-Man

Ya-Man entered the Chinese market in 2015, leveraging insights into Chinese consumers to develop single-function RF beauty devices for Asian skin, targeting anti-aging effects like wrinkle reduction and lifting.

Based on precise consumer insight, Ya-Man positioned its products for Asian skin, quickly captured the market and occupied consumer mindshare.

Central to good home beauty devices are safety, efficacy, and correct consumer perception.

Ya-Man builds great products through R&D, standard-setting, and consumer education.

In R&D, take the Ace Fifth Generation's Power mode: it targets the four areas prone to sagging and wrinkles in Asian women — jawline, cheeks, eye area and forehead — with customized energy and techniques.

When safety and efficacy are assured, product design that encourages consistent use is also essential; Ya-Man focuses on "adherence" to optimize user experience.

In standard-setting, Ya-Man helped establish a series of evaluation standards: the "Expert Consensus on the Selection and Use of Anti-Aging Home Beauty Devices", and the "Group Standard for Efficacy and Safety Evaluation of Home Beauty Devices".

For consumer education, Ya-Man worked with over 50 dermatologists to produce "9 Tips for Choosing Home Beauty Devices", providing guidance on efficacy, safety and ease of use.

(II) AMIRO

AMIRO was founded in 2015. Founder Wang Nianou positions AMIRO as a tech company focusing on beauty and makeup needs of women aged 18 – 35, using cutting-edge optical technology.

Despite the economic climate, AMIRO achieved more than 100% growth year-over-year, with strong performance on Tmall, Douyin and JD.

This counter-trend growth is partly due to people's unchanging pursuit of beauty regardless of economic conditions, and partly to the "stay-at-home economy" transferring salon-based skincare to home use.

Moreover, it reflects AMIRO's integrated strength in product, R&D, marketing and service.

In product, AMIRO continues to innovate photoelectric technology for skincare, using a patented flat titanium-alloy head and an ultra-smooth design (gap < 0.05mm) to avoid pigmentation and skin damage caused by friction.

In R&D, AMIRO has established joint labs with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Zhejiang University, and carried out clinical observation trials with hospitals like the Eighth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, ensuring safety and efficacy.

In marketing, AMIRO collaborated with the Victoria & Albert Museum, partnered with "Sisters Who Make Waves", and created "The Great Chinese Smart Manufacturing" series with CCTV, helping consumers better understand the brand.

In service, AMIRO launched the VVIP service plan (100VS1), creating a personal service team for every user to answer questions and gather product improvement suggestions.

AMIRO gains user recognition through strong product strength and persistent service excellence.

(III) FLOSSOM

FLOSSOM was founded in 2019, positioning itself as a specialist in precision RF technology. It focused on combined eye and face care, spending three years developing an integrated anti-aging device.

The first product launched in February 2022, achieved sales exceeding 40 million yuan within three months, becoming a Top 5 brand in Tmall's beauty device category.

FLOSSOM entered the market relatively late but succeeded rapidly because users with facial skincare needs also want eye-area anti-aging. Most devices only address the face, but many consumers want one device that works for both face and eye area. FLOSSOM captured this market need, turning consumer pain points into innovation starting points.

FLOSSOM controls its own R&D, with four functional labs covering device performance, efficacy testing, skin research, and innovative technology. It invited Professor Otaka Toshio, former head of development at Hitachi, and Professor Zheng Zhizhong as chief experts.

FLOSSOM pioneered dual-track endogenous current technology for painless, comfortable use. It also developed a skin resistance algorithm to customize RF power based on skin condition, and validates safety and efficacy through long-term, extensive testing — building the brand on evidence-based medicine.

For consumer education, FLOSSOM worked with four dermatologists from the Lilac Doctor expert group to spread knowledge about device technology, safety, and efficacy evaluation.

How can the home beauty device industry overcome its chaos?

As many emerging brands show promise, the market is maturing and moving from a niche to a mass FMCG market. As the consumer market expands, problems surface — how to break the deadlock?

The beauty device industry faces three major challenges: overemphasis on marketing and underinvestment in R&D; lack of standards; and insufficient consumer education.

1. Heavy marketing, light R&D

Home beauty devices involve interdisciplinary technologies — small appliances, medical devices, beauty tech — and face many R&D challenges. Many brands prioritize marketing over R&D.

2. Lack of standards

The absence of industry standards has long been a huge challenge. Without standards, product safety and quality cannot be guaranteed. Standards are necessary for a healthy and orderly industry.

Recently reported safety problems with home beauty devices (skin allergies, facial indentations, burns) and false advertising stem from substandard and counterfeit products — some with weak R&D and lacking professional evaluation.

3. Lack of consumer education

Consumers do not have a complete understanding of home beauty devices. On one hand, the myriad of choices and fake products erode trust. On the other hand, consumers expect instant magical results. A proper perspective: no miraculous effects, but good results with correct use.

How should brands solve these problems?

Fang Junping, founder of Gengxiang Biotechnology, believes current negative voices mainly come from several sources. First, the rapid development of the home beauty device market has attracted many brands, including many low-quality players with no real R&D capability, lacking clinical trials and safety evaluations.

Second, the industry should increase education to help consumers form correct perceptions. Some consumers expect too much, using devices too frequently or repeatedly on the same area, which can damage the skin barrier. Choose quality brands, follow recommended frequency and instructions, and persist — you'll see good results.

Third, the long-standing problem of missing standards is a key reason for industry chaos. The National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) will issue relevant standards by April 2024, clearly classifying RF beauty devices as Class III medical devices. This will greatly promote orderly and healthy industry development, leading to regulatory compliance and a return to competition based on product and R&D strength.

Dr. Zhang Yang, RF medical technology expert, said the upcoming national standards will positively impact the industry. In April 2021, the NMPA issued for comments the "Guiding Principles for Classification Definition of RF Beauty Products", clarifying that RF beauty products would be managed as Class III medical devices. The announcement in March 2022 (No. 30) makes it clear that starting April 1, 2024, RF therapeutic and skin treatment devices may not be manufactured, imported or sold without a medical device registration certificate.

Standards promote orderly industry development. New products from major brands will enter the market more safely and effectively, and the industry will undergo a new round of consolidation.

In the future, beauty device products on the market must be produced on production lines that meet medical device regulatory requirements, with strict norms for equipment, facilities, personnel, components, biocompatibility and electrical safety. Regulatory supervision and lifelong legal responsibility for corporate legal representatives mean greater accountability.

The significance of regulation is to standardize the industry for better development, helping consumers, products and manufacturers enter a positive and sustainable cycle.

Dr. Zhang Yang also shared key indicators of a good home beauty device: first, a quality manufacturing system. Among nearly 1,000 beauty device brands in China, fewer than 10 factories can independently produce safe and effective products. Medical-grade devices require medical-grade dust-free workshops and medical device production standards.

Second, the proportion of R&D investment. Quite a few brands overemphasize marketing and neglect R&D, selling the same product for years with flashy marketing instead of iteration.

Third, critical components and processes must comply with regulatory requirements. For example, nickel is common in household appliances, but if only household appliance standards apply, some device electrodes may have excessive nickel release, causing toxicity. Biocompatibility tests under medical device regulation would detect such failures.

Finally, an excellent beauty device should meet several technical indicators: safe temperature control (dermis at 41–42 °C, the safe and effective gold point); avoidance of overheating or electric shock sensations; fast full-face treatment within a short time; intelligence for precise control of temperature, uniformity and comfort; and human-centric design in product and interaction.

Conclusion

The era of barbaric growth in the home beauty device industry is ending. The industry is shifting from marketing-driven to product-strength-driven growth.

With the issuance of national beauty device standards, products that fail to meet quality requirements or exaggerate efficacy will not enter the market, preventing risks at the source.

In the future, brands that want to stand out must root themselves in consumption scenarios, find their brand positioning, return to the original intention of making great products, refocus on user value, and continuously innovate iteratively.

References:

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• [2] “Leading brands pave the way, emerging brands expand: the transformation of the home beauty device industry”, Tencent Net
• [3] “Current situation and prospects of China's beauty device industry: changes in consumer groups and demand will give home anti-aging devices greater potential”, Guanyan Tianxia
• [4] “Analysis of high-growth beauty devices on Douyin during Double 11”, Tencent Net
• [5] “How can domestic home beauty devices overtake on the curve?”, TMTpost
• [6] “Fire and ice: dissecting the 20-billion-yuan beauty device track”, Jumeili.com
• [7] “Three years to develop a beauty device, entering Top 5 within three months of launch: how FLOSSOM builds a new national brand”, Hongwan Society