Building on the success of its first visit, the China Beauty Expo “Walk the World” World Tour returned to Thailand on November 20th at the invitation of Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce. China Beauty Expo’s (CBE) return visit underscores the strong outlook that Thailand has for the China beauty market.
CBE and Thai beauty industry leaders joined to kick of CBE’s second stop in Thailand. Sang Ying, Secretary-General of CBE, Kasemsit Pathomsak, Deputy Secretary-general of Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce, Claudia Bonfiglioli, General Manager of Informa Beauty and International Director of Shanghai Baiwen Exhibition Co., Ltd., Howard Chang, Managing Director for Malaysia and Thailand of Kantar Worldpanel, Lou Yun, Business Development Manager of the Cosmetics Business Unit of Reach24H, Sunai Wachirawarakarn, General Manager of Spanovator, Benjamin Fouéré, Marketing Director of Aknas, and Marion Chabert, Business Development and Marketing Consultant of Centdegres Thailand, and representatives from more than 100 Thai cosmetics companies met to share views on the Chinese cosmetics market, trends policies, and regulations.
New Generation of Consumers and Higher Expectations Bring New Opportunities and Challenges in China
Discussing the major trends in the current China market, Sang Ying stressed, “High consumer expectations drives an upgrade in the overall industry. The rising middle-class and new generation of Chinese consumers are more sophisticated and have more diverse needs.” She added that the greatest demand is for middle and high-end products. Echoing the comments of Howard Chang, Managing Director for Malaysia and Thailand for Kantar Worldpanel, Sang also highlighted the rising demand for new, personalized, fashion-forward, and high tech products.
Howard Chang emphasized the importance of focusing on six major market drivers. These include high-end consumption, more sophisticated make-up application behavior, more complex consumers, competition and diversification, and fashion, health and efficiency. For example, marketing high-end brands requires care targeting of core consumer groups. And, “superstar” products mush be created based on careful segmentation.
CBE Global Strategies for China Market Entry or International Expansion
CBE’s Sang Ying indicated that introducing China’s cosmetics market to Thai suppliers was one of CBE’s most important initiatives within its “Go Global and Import” strategy. “Now, we want to provide companies in other countries and regions with opportunities to crack the Chinese market. In the future, we also will help Chinese companies expand into international markets through the CBE platform.”
She added that CBE is proactively promoting Chinese cosmetic brands around the world. “Asian countries will be major targets during the next three years. For CBE 2018, we will organize groups of professional buyers from across Asia,” Sang explained.
CBE also invited Lou Yun, Business Development Manager of the Cosmetics Business Unit of Reach24H to provide Thai companies with a clear picture of China’s cosmetics laws, regulations, and compliance requirements.
CBE’s event also organized a discussion entitled, “How to Create a Locally Famous Brand and Introduce to International Markets.” The panel included Sunai Wachirawarakarn, General Manager of Spanovator, Benjamin Fouéré, Marketing Director of Aknas, and Marion Chabert, Business Development and Marketing Consultant of Centdegres Thailand. Participants left with fresh perspectives and take-aways from the discussion.
Claudia Bonfiglioli, General Manager of Informa Beauty and International Director of Shanghai Baiwen Exhibition Co., Ltd, elaborated on CBE’s global strategy. She outlined the exhibition’s international development for the coming three years, highlighting three important dimensions: “fashion”, “technology,” and “innovation. Together with Sang Ying, Ms. Bonfiglioli looked forward to seeing their Thai industry colleagues in Shanghai for China Beauty Expo 2018 from May 22-24, 2018.
Mark your calendars for the China Beauty Expo 2018!
Comments