Looking good, bro

Growth factors

There are several factors driving the growth of the male skin care and cosmetics market. Lucus Wang, art director of hair salon and spa chain Amani in Shanghai, says the improvement of life quality and the popularization of skin care are among the key reasons.

"Around 99 percent of male customers lack knowledge of their skin type and how to protect their skin. As such, the market is producing products designed to address these factors," says Wang.

Queenie Lin, the general manager of Biotherm, a brand under L'Oreal, says the fast-growing Chinese economy has resulted in an increasing number of men looking to upgrade their quality of life, which in turn includes paying more attention to their appearance.

Market experts forecast at the beginning of this year that consumer spending will continue to achieve healthy growth in 2017 as China moves toward becoming a consumption-driven economy. In addition, the Economist Intelligence Unit, a British business within the Economist Group providing forecasting and advisory services through research and analysis, expects the proportion of those earning upper-middle and high incomes in China to grow from 10 percent to 35 percent by 2030.

"Skin care is not limited to just looking good. It is also related to men's pursuit of confidence," said Lin.

L'Oreal has stores in more than 130 countries and is one of the earliest companies that introduced male skin care products. The company's products were officially launched in China in 2006.

"When we entered the Chinese market 20 years ago, the male skin care category did not exist in the market," said a company representative.

"Chinese men then didn't realize that they needed to take care of their skin. Some even believed that skin care was exclusive to women."

Zong Guoning, L'Oreal China consumer products division brands general manager, says the company focused on online promotions to draw Chinese male customers because research has shown that many of them spend significant amounts of time playing online games.