Chinese personal care brand KIMTRUE launched new Warm Feeling Cleansing Oil claiming to add WARM-TECH temperature-sensitive emulsification formula to achieve rapid emulsification and removal of makeup. At present, the product is available on its flagship store of Chinese e-commerce platform Tmall priced at $42. Currently, its highest sales are KIMTRUE Ultra Treatment Hair Oil priced at $13 with total sales of 1 million + in its official flagship store.
The parent company of KIMTRUE is Shanghai Jinjia Company Limited(hereinafter referred to as Jinjia). In the past decade or so, Jinjia has focused on brand agency business and successfully incubated overseas niche beauty brands such as First aid beauty (FAB), RAFRA, LA GIRL, and TIMELESS in the Chinese market and thus accumulated valuable experience in brand incubation.
In 2019, under the leadership of its CEO Maggie, its first private brand – KIMTRUE was launched. Relying on Jinjia’s rich resources and experience in brand operation, KIMTRUE quickly stood out in the market.
KIMTRUE insists on the research and development of high-quality Chinese personal care products. Previously, KIMTRUE has been focused on the field of cleaning. It is contributed to solving skin problems in a gentle and healthy and reasonable way. It successfully created several hot-selling products such as Makeup Meltaway Cleansing Balm and multiple hair care oil.
In the process of product creation, KIMTRUE found that due to lifestyle habits and individual differences, different users have very different expectations and preferences for the effectiveness of personal care products. “We should respect every small and precise need from customers and provide users with effective products that can effectively solve the pain points of personal care and truly improve skin problems,” said Maggie, CEO of KIMTRUE.
According to OIBP, China’s efficacious skincare market is expected to reach $15 billion by 2024, accounting for 22.9% of the overall skincare market. Currently, the boom has also long extended from facial skincare products to personal care products.
CBNDate’s 2021 Tmall International Personal Care Home Cleaning Industry Consumption Insight Report mentioned that current young consumers are increasingly diversified in their demands for the efficacy of body care products with the steady growth of fragranced body wash products and the rapid rise in consumer demands for body anti-aging.
Based on this trend, at the beginning of 2022, KIMTRUE officially announced Chinese pop singer Liu Yuxin as the brand’s first body care spokesperson. Through the celebrity traffic, the brand launched a further dialogue with young consumers on Chinese social media platforms such as Weibo and WeChat attracting the attention of many netizens. This cooperation also means that KIMTRUE ushered in the brand upgrade. The new slogan “because real so shine” was officially launched. It aimed at using real and effective ingredients formulas to provide users with a scientific skincare experience.
At the same time, KIMTRUE launched three major personal care series: TRUE series, which focuses on daily care, the KIM series, which focuses on nourishing care, and the Energic series, which focuses on meeting the needs of efficacy, covering four personal care product lines: face, scalp, hair, and body, including amino acid facial wash, makeup remover, scalp purifying gel, hair care oil, repair bath, and body lotion, etc. It launched more than 40 efficacy personal care products to fully meet the needs of users.
In 2022, KIMTRUE’s ceramide body milk, niacinamide whitening hand cream, and other major products are also newly launched.
Since its birth, KIMTRUE create a number of differences from the traditional efficacy of personal care products around the cosmetic market on product efficacy, and composition of consumer demand. Therefore it gained a good market reputation. Behind this, it reflects the strength of the brand’s research and development.
It is understood that the KIMTRUE laboratory is dedicated to product development. The laboratory consists of 50 members with a center area of 1500 square meters. Among the R&D staff, more than 50% of the members have master’s degrees and five core members have more than 15 years of cosmetic R&D experience. At the beginning of 2022, its R&D team has been expanded to dozens of people and a 4000m² R&D center has been established making R&D the most solid and powerful support behind the brand.
At present, more than 95% of the formulas in KIMTRUE’s products are done in its own laboratory. For example, the formulas for the products it creates, such as makeup remover creams and hair care oils, are born here.
With the strong resources and R&D strength of the parent company, KIMTRUE ushered in rapid development. The GMV of the brand in 2020 reached nearly $15 million. During the Double 11(Chinese Shopping Carnival), total sales of its Tmall flagship store reached more than $12 million. In the same year, its annual GMV of it exceeded hundreds of millions yuan, an increase of 700%.
Maggie said she has a bigger “ambition” for KIMTRUE. She hoped KIMTRUE can become a long-lasting brand and will continue to work hard for this. KIMTRUE has never stopped investing in research and development and has never set limits on its products. In her opinion, the construction and solid development of any brand need to go through a long-term accumulation process. The company also should adhere to long-termism, find a suitable path for its own growth, and face opportunities and challenges.
