Skip to main content

Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.

Why the Bottom Fell Out of China’s Luxury Beauty Market

After years of outsized growth in prestige cosmetics, consumers have pulled back on the typically recession-proof category.

Tourists purchase cosmetic products at CDF Haikou Duty Free Shop during summer vacation. — Tourists purchase cosmetic products at CDF Haikou Duty Free Shop during summer vacation. (Getty Images)

By

Tiffany Ap

15 August 2023

BoF PROFESSIONAL

In times of economic distress, the conventional wisdom is that beauty, as an emotional and relatively still affordable splurge, will keep shoppers spending. But even though China is looking at a cloudy macroeconomic picture, its cosmetics sector is turning that advice on its head.

Please sign in to ensure you can read our agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice. Or get in touch at support@businessoffashion.com if you experience difficulties.

Further Reading

Rethinking China’s Beauty Market

As global brands face headwinds in China, L’Oréal and Shiseido are betting on new investment funds targeting C-beauty companies to sustain growth.

How Big Beauty Is Plotting a Recovery in China

Despite disappointing Singles Day sales results, harsh Zero Covid restrictions and supply chain woes, international beauty conglomerates continue to see China as a growth engine.

About the author

Tiffany Ap is Senior Correspondent at The Business of Fashion. She is based in New York and covers marketing and the critical China market.

In This Article

Topics

China

Location

China

Tags

© 2026 The Business of Fashion. All rights reserved. For more information read our Terms & Conditions

More from China

On-the-ground intelligence and insights from the world’s largest fashion market.

This Week: What Moncler, Estée Lauder Have to Say About China

This Week: What Moncler, Estée Lauder Have to Say About China

An emerging narrative this earnings season is that China’s troubled fashion market is stabilising. This week’s results will put that theory to the test.

Trump Extends China Truce for 90 Days, Averting Tariff Hike

Trump Extends China Truce for 90 Days, Averting Tariff Hike

Had the truce not been extended through Nov. 10, US tariffs on Chinese goods would have jumped to at least 54% starting on August 12.

Estée Lauder Companies, L’Oréal Suffer as China Duty-Free Spend Continues to Fall

Estée Lauder Companies, L’Oréal Suffer as China Duty-Free Spend Continues to Fall

The once-promising Chinese travel retail market is showing little signs of recovery, causing global beauty giants to reevaluate their strategies and reduce promotions.

Why China’s Gold Jewellers Are the Envy of Global Brands

Why China’s Gold Jewellers Are the Envy of Global Brands

With soaring profits and rapidly expanding store networks, ‘heritage-gold’ jewellery brands like Laopu Gold and Lao Feng Xiang are red-hot in China’s otherwise tepid luxury market.

Latest News & Analysis

Unrivalled, world class journalism across fashion, luxury and beauty industries.

The Season That Was: Signals From Fashion’s Front Lines

From the impact of the war in the Middle East to the future of Saks to the Kering conundrum, Imran Amed shares his intel and insight from the trenches of the latest ‘fashion month.’

Lanvin Deputy CEO Siddhartha Shukla Exits Brand

Owner Lanvin Group said it is ‘fully committed’ to the French label’s development under creative director Peter Copping, with CEO Andy Lew in charge of management.

The Designers and Brands That Defined the Season | The BoF Podcast

In a post-fashion month debrief, BoF founder Imran Amed and editor-at-large Tim Blanks assess how the biggest houses are bedding in under new creative leadership at Chanel, Gucci, Dior and more.

Is Quince Really Worth $10 Billion?

From $50 cashmere to Dom Pérignon champagne, the everything store for the aspirationally bougie is outrunning the ghosts of DTC past.

The Business of Fashion

Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.

CONNECT WITH US ON

© 2026 The Business of Fashion. All rights reserved. For more information read our , , and .