A deep search in the public domain could reveal that information on the amount that personal care companies spend on advertisements in China is non-existent, and media coverage on the specified topic is scarce. The most relevant media mention on the topic is; this year, 2019, the estimated amount spend by health & beauty companies in China on online advertisement is US$2,296,000,000 (¥16,164,161,688). Below are the explicit findings and detailed methodology on the request.
Helpful Insights
- In 2015, online advertising spend by health & beauty brands in China was US$838 million (¥5,898,950,052); this accounted for 2.7% of total online advertising in the country. The expected spend in 2016 was US$1,120 million (¥7,884,181,742), an increase of 35% from the previous year. [1 USD = 7.03945 CNY]
- However, the projected CAGR from 2016 to 2020 is 21.3%; therefore, the online ad spend by health & beauty companies in China will hit US$2,425 million (¥17,070,661,362) in 2020.
- By the end of this year, 2019, these companies would have spent an estimate of US$2,296,000,000 (¥16,164,161,688) on online advertising. [calculated]
- In 2015, social media advertising spend by health & beauty players in China was US$143 million (¥1,006,618,104); this accounted for 4.0% of total social media advertising in the country. However, this ad spend was estimated to hit US$217 million (¥1,527,525,375) in 2016, and reach US$1,010 million (¥7,109,577,823) in 2020. It has a projected CAGR of 46.8% from 2016 to 2020.
- Therefore, the estimated social media ad expenditure by these companies is expected to be US$521,668,000 (¥3,673,034,311) this year, 2019. [calculated]
- According to Zenith's research report, this year, 2019, China is leading in beauty total ad spend around the globe. The country has spent US$6.2 billion (¥43,643,377,790), and it's estimated to spend US$6.9 billion (¥48,570,855,928) in 2021 on beauty ads.
- As per iResearch China statistics, China's top five skincare & cosmetic brands by online spending in 2017 included BIORE (¥13.14 million), Return (¥10.68 million), OLAY (¥8.05 million), Estee Lauder (¥5.02 million), and Lancome (¥3.99 million).
- The top online platforms used in 2017 by the above brands to advertise their products in China include video websites, fashion websites, portal websites, microblogs, and maternal websites.
- This year, 2019, the companies/players/brands with the largest market share in the personal care industry in China include L'Oreal China, Mary Kay (China) Inc., Procter & Gamble (China) Ltd., Shiseido Group (China), and Shanghai Jahwa United Co., Ltd.
- In 2018, L'Oréal spent some €8.14 billion (¥63,401,155,364) on advertising and promotions worldwide; also, Procter & Gamble has spent about US$6.8 billion (¥47,867,384,088) on advertising globally, this year, 2019. [1 EUR = 7.78884 CNY]
Research Strategy
During our search, we could not find any information on the amount that personal care companies spend on advertisements in China. We employed the following strategies in search of the missing data.
We began our search by going through industry analysis publications and reports on sources such as Emarketer, Market Research, Euro Monitor, Zenith Media, Market Watch, Retail Gazette, Marketing Week, and IAB, among others. We employed these sources because they usually have pre-compiled information on many industry sectors, including their market size, trends, top players, among others. Therefore, we hoped to find the research on the personal care advertisement analysis based on the type of outlet (players in the form of retailers, clinics, and others) in China. On the Market Research website, we could find some relevant information pertaining to the research; this is, the amounts spent by China's healthy & beauty industry on the overall digital advertising and social media advertising from 2015 to the projected amounts in 2020. Also, on the Zenith Media websites, we could find the total ad spend on beauty by China this year, 2019. However, we were unable to find information that answers all the research questions from the above sources.
Next, we scanned through statistical databases, such as Statista, Knoema, among others, and online advertising measuring databases, such as iAdTracker. These sources usually have data on various subjects, including industries. Using this strategy, we could find some relevant information relating to the topic, such as the amount spent on advertising by China's top 10 skincare & cosmetic brands in 2017 and the channels they used to advertise their products. Unfortunately, we could not find the overall ad spend by all companies operating in this industry in China.
Finally, we tried using a triangulation approach. Our aim here was to find the amount spend on advertising by the top five companies in China, and use it as a proxy. On the IBISWorld website, we could find the top five largest cosmetic & personal care product companies in terms of market share in China. The companies are L'Oreal China, Mary Kay (China) Inc., Procter & Gamble (China) Ltd., Shiseido Group (China), and Shanghai Jahwa United Co., Ltd. So we searched for the ad spend by these players individually. We went through their websites, reports, third-party websites, such as Statista, Market Watch, among others. However, we couldn't find the ad spend by these companies in China. For L'Oréal China and Procter & Gamble China, we could find their total ad spend globally, while for other the remaining players, we could not find their ad spend either in China or globally on any source. Therefore, this strategy did not work, as well.
NOTE: Also, we could not find the ad spend based on the type of outlet: retailers (E.g., GNC, Boots), marketplaces (E.g., Goop), and clinics (skin and cosmetic clinics). Here, we tried searching for the top retailers, skin and cosmetic clinics, among others; though we could find some of these outlets operating in China, we could not find their ad spend. This could be because the majority of them are privately owned and do not reveal their financial details to the public.
Calculations
1. Online Ad Spend by Health & Beauty Brands in China, 2019
Therefore, 2019 online ad spend: 2019 -2016 = 3 years
US$[35/100*1,120,000,000] = US$392,000,000
The total 2019 online ad spend by health & beauty brands in China: US$[(392,000,000*3) + 1,120,000,000] =US$2,296,000,000 (¥16,164,161,688)
2. Social Media Ad Expenditure by Health & Beauty Brands in China, 2019
Therefore, 2019 social media ad spend: 2019 -2016 = 3 years
US$[(46.8/100*217,000,000)*3] + 217,000,000 = US$521,668,000 (¥3,673,034,311)