The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
The Chinese skincare brand has secured Series A financing totalling more than 100 million yuan ($15.66 million).
The brand, founded by a medical doctor, focuses on skin data analysis and targeted skincare products for women, with strong emphasis on research and development capabilities and medical expertise.
Like many other high-profile C-beauty brands, Uniskin started out selling via online channels such as Tmall, JD.com, WeChat and Xiaohongshu, before branching out into offline channels. Its stockists include Lane Crawford and local beauty-focused select store, Heat.
According to its own data, Uniskin’s total sales for 2020 reached 150 million yuan ($23.49 million), and sales in the first quarter of 2021 increased more than 350 percent on the year.
Chinese beauty brands have traditionally concentrated on the mass market, with international players dominating the country’s prestige beauty market. Uniskin is part of a new generation of C-Beauty brands that are gaining market share at higher price points, especially among younger consumers, by doubling-down on R&D capabilities and an elevated brand image.
With consumers tightening their belts in China, the battle between global fast fashion brands and local high street giants has intensified.
Investors are bracing for a steep slowdown in luxury sales when luxury companies report their first quarter results, reflecting lacklustre Chinese demand.
The French beauty giant’s two latest deals are part of a wider M&A push by global players to capture a larger slice of the China market, targeting buzzy high-end brands that offer products with distinctive Chinese elements.
Post-Covid spend by US tourists in Europe has surged past 2019 levels. Chinese travellers, by contrast, have largely favoured domestic and regional destinations like Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.