Beauty-from-within in China: Shiseido doubles down on category as ingestible beauty market gathers pace
The company told us that it has been seeing double digit growth in China’s ingestible beauty market, with the growth “only becoming stronger” post COVID-19.
It added that brand experience would become “the ultimate key differentiator”, while product efficacy, safety and quality were just as important, Carol Zhou, SVP at Shiseido's China Business Innovation and Investment Representative Office said.
In March next year, the company will be selling products from its new brand INRYU into China via e-commerce.
The brand INRYU will be first introduced in Japan in January next year for sale in SHISEIDO THE STORE.
The newly established brand currently has three beauty-from-within products for anti-ageing, improving skin radiance and strengthening skin moisture.
In China, other popular Japanese beauty-from-within brands include POLA and FANCL.
Inner beauty brands from other countries are also gaining popularity in China.
In the recent Double 11 shopping festival, data from Tmall Global showed that among Singaporean brands, Expressions was the most purchased brand by the Chinese shoppers.
Expressions is a beauty salon from Singapore which also counts inner beauty products, such as Super Fat Burner, Jello Collagen, Jello Anti-Oxi as its bestsellers.
INRYU – a China innovation
Coming in the form of tablets, the INRYU products were developed by Shiseido’s China Business Innovation and Investment Office established in Shanghai in 2019.
The range was also showcased at the recent China International Import Expo (CIIE).
One of the products, Laser Refine, uses rice-derived lactobacillus and rice-derived ceramides to reinforce the skin barrier, achieve skin moisturisation, and rebalance the skin’s water and oil content at the same time.
Advanced Radiance, on the other hand, seeks to enhance skin radiance by diminishing dark spots, reducing skin dullness, and achieving anti-glycation effect.
As for Night Ritual+, it is a sleep time treatment which works by improving sleep quality to support the formation of collagen. It also increases skin elasticity by replenishing the skin’s elastin peptide.
Served as a product innovation and new business development hub, the Office also focuses on consumer insight research.
“As the leading market outside Japan, the importance of the China market goes without saying.
“The China Business Innovation and Investment Office was established to fully unleash the potential of China through exploring business opportunities in different territories,” Zhou told us.
Ingestible beauty for the win
Shiseido said in its FY2020 report that ingestible beauty would be one of its strategies for success.
As part of its WIN 2023 key strategies, it said it would focus on skin beauty by developing the inner beauty category, on top of building a portfolio centred on skin beauty brands, and accelerating innovation through external collaborations.
Aside from INRYU, Shiseido’s other beauty-from-within brand is The Collagen, which was launched 25 years ago.
One of the latest launches from the brand is a jelly pouch containing patented ingredients, including the combination of lingonberry and Indian gooseberry.
It also contains strawberry seed extract patented for its beauty effects, low molecular weight collagen, hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, and citrus unshiu extract.
The brand also has products that come in liquid shots, powder, and tablets.
