“Make the World Fall in Love with Chinese Cosmetics”
This is the shared expectation of numerous domestic cosmetics brands in the rising wave of Chinese beauty brands, leading the industry to focus on research and development, innovation, channels, and marketing…
“Make Consumers Fall in Love with Dr. Plant, Make the World Fall in Love with Chinese Cosmetics”
This is the brand vision that Dr. Plant, which has been dedicated to bringing Chinese ingredients to the global stage for nearly 30 years, firmly upholds.
Not long ago, market research firm Euromonitor International released a research result on the use of herbal plant extracts, specifically Dendrobium orchid, in the global cosmetics industry. The research showed that Dr. Plant ranked first in retail sales of Dendrobium orchid skincare products worldwide. This once again puts Dr. Plant in the spotlight, proving to the industry the correctness of using Chinese ingredients to tell the story of Chinese skincare efficacy.
Global Number One!
“The term ‘Chinese ingredients’ is transforming from a high-frequency buzzword in the industry to a ‘key substance’ that can genuinely bring influence to brands.” According to the CHAILEEDO Intelligence’s “2023 China Ingredient Market Insights Report,” data shows that the sales of cosmetics with Chinese ingredients increased by 9.3% in the period from January to August 2023. Recently, the second generation of L’Oréal Paris’s flagship product, the “Little Honey Pot Cream,” became the first to use “recombinant collagen” developed by a Chinese company.
Public information also reveals that Euromonitor International, as a leading global market research firm, has 20 years of experience in market analysis and is highly authoritative and professional worldwide.
Therefore, after witnessing the surge of Chinese ingredient trends in the cosmetics industry, Euromonitor International conducted research on related ingredients. Among them, as one of the orchid plants, Dendrobium has a history of over 2,000 years of medicinal use. Euromonitor International believes that Dendrobium skincare products (referring to skincare products that emphasize the inclusion of Dendrobium in both their ingredients and claims) have a strong “Chinese ingredients” label due to the medicinal value of certain Dendrobium species. It is an important representation of “Chinese ingredients.”
CHAILEEDO has learned that recently, Euromonitor International conducted a comprehensive and systematic market research on the global Dendrobium skincare product market. Through in-depth interviews with industry experts and cross-validation of data to confirm the retail sales performance of leading brands’ Dendrobium skincare products in the global market, Euromonitor International ultimately confirmed that Dr. Plant ranks first in global retail sales of Dendrobium skincare products*.
However, success is never achieved in a single stroke.
CHAILEEDO has learned that since its establishment, the Dr. Plant brand has set a development path that combines botanical skincare research with scientific innovation. Subsequently, Dr. Plant collaborated with the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, to establish the “Dr. Plant Research Center at the Kunming Institute of Botany” and appointed Pei Shengji, the founder of Chinese ethnobotany, as the Chief Scientist. They conducted fundamental research on plant materials suitable for cosmetics, officially establishing the brand positioning of “High Mountain Plants, Pure Beauty.”
To date, Dr. Plant has launched dozens of unique product lines, such as the Fresh Skin Condensation Series with Dendrobium and the High Mountain Reishi Series, forming a complete matrix of high mountain plant products.
Among the many product lines, Dendrobium, a precious traditional Chinese medicinal herb, was selected for its outstanding moisturizing and repairing effects. The Dendrobium series is also the star product line of Dr. Plant.
After nearly 10 years of rigorous scientific research experiments and technological innovations, Dr. Plant has successfully extracted the precious essence of Dendrobium and incorporated it into skincare products. It is understood that the brand’s unique extraction process preserves the active ingredients of Dendrobium, allowing them to penetrate deep into the skin, providing excellent moisturizing, antioxidant, and anti-aging effects.
Since the launch of the Dendrobium series over six years ago, Dr. Plant has continuously innovated and updated its products according to market demands and consumer preferences. They have infused more elements and functional considerations into product design, such as the Dendrobium Vibrating Eye Cream for reducing wrinkles, the Dendrobium Firming and Wrinkle Diminishing Gel, and the Dendrobium Cleansing and Moisturizing Facial Cleanser.
The introduction of these products demonstrates Dr. Plant’s accurate grasp of market dynamics and its proactive response to consumer expectations. It has also led to Dr. Plant’s current position as the “global leader in retail sales of Dendrobium skincare products.”
Steadily occupying the top spot in the cosmetics single-brand retailer
However, as Dr. Plant’s founder, Jie Yong, pointed out in an interview with CHAILEEDO, there are three key words to building a brand: channels, positioning, and research and development.
In an era where even good wine fears deep alleys, after establishing the “Dr. Plant Research Center” in cooperation with the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and positioning itself as “High Mountain Plants, Pure Beauty,” expanding channels naturally became a top priority for Dr. Plant’s development.
It is well known that in recent years, traditional retail channels such as department stores and supermarkets have faced growth bottlenecks due to rising operating costs and evolving retail formats. The single-brand retailer, a marketing model that offers a more experiential, supportive, and customer-retention-oriented approach, has emerged.
Dr. Plant, which caught onto the trend of single-brand stores in advance, has entered a phase of rapid expansion. From 1,000 stores in 2013 to over 2,000 in 2015… In 2019, Dr. Plant even launched its Dendrobium Fresh Skin Condensation Series in Japan. By April 2019, Dr. Plant had opened its 3,000th store, with the first store in Japan appearing in Osaka. Today, Dr. Plant has over 5,000 stores worldwide, not only in mainland China but also successfully expanding into markets such as Japan, Hong Kong, and Indonesia. It can be called the “pioneer of single-brand skincare specialty stores” in its overseas expansion.
By leveraging Chinese original technology and incorporating Chinese ingredients as the brand’s solid foundation, and through in-depth market research and precise targeting of the target consumer group, Dr. Plant has achieved significant success in the global market. According to data from the China Chain Store & Franchise Association, Dr. Plant’s sales revenue increased from 2.464 billion yuan in 2018 to 3.878 billion yuan in 2022, with a growth rate of 57.38%.
It is reported that from October to November 2023, Euromonitor International conducted comprehensive research on the global single-brand skincare retailers through public data searching, as well as online and offline store visits, and compiled a long list of leading single-brand skincare brands worldwide. Through in-depth research, Euromonitor International confirmed that Dr. Plant is the leading global single-brand skincare retailer.
Of course, in the wave of the rise of e-commerce and the digital transformation of the retail industry, Dr. Plant has also quickly adapted to market changes and built a sales network that covers all channels. CHAILEEDO has learned that in recent years, Dr. Plant has collaborated with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) and Key Opinion Consumers (KOCs) to spread brand information and product awareness in the public domain; it has also created brand sections, product recommendations, and member recommendations in online stores to create a burst of private domain traffic, successfully offsetting the decrease in offline traffic since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Dr. Plant’s experience shows that by gaining a deep understanding of the target market, aligning with industry trends, and building a sales network, a brand’s competitiveness and influence in the global market can be effectively enhanced, while also generating substantial financial returns. This undoubtedly provides valuable reference and inspiration for all Chinese beauty brands pursuing global development.
Dual recognition, creating a model
It can be seen that behind every innovative step of Dr. Plant, it reflects the brand’s deep understanding of the development trends in the beauty market. Whether it is based on the natural properties of plants or meeting consumers’ demands for product efficacy and consumer experience, its product development and channel expansion are well-organized and closely follow market trends.
Recently, Dr. Plant’s past efforts have received broader and more authoritative recognition as the brand is about to enter its “new 30 years.”
In October of this year, the science popularization program “Super Factory,” produced by CCTV.com, visited Dr. Plant’s production base in Shunde, Guangdong. The program covered the entire industry chain, including independent research and development, raw material cultivation, and digitalized factories, giving high praise to the brand’s selection of raw materials, scientific product formulas, and quality control in the production process.
“Super Factory” is a reality-based science popularization program produced and aired by CCTV.com. It aims to provide in-depth coverage of the world’s leading super factories, explore the production processes behind each industry, inform viewers of the technological content behind everyday products, and how these technologies are changing people’s lives and the world. It is understood that this is the first collaboration between “Super Factory” and the Chinese cosmetics industry.
It is worth mentioning that the research results of Dr. Plant by Euromonitor International, mentioned earlier, were also featured in the program visit to Dr. Plant’s factory on CCTV.com’s “Super Factory.” It can be said that Dr. Plant has received dual recognition from domestic authoritative media and globally renowned consulting companies.
According to CHAILEEDO, the visit to Dr. Plant’s Shunde factory by “Super Factory” was widely disseminated through CCTV.com’s platforms and various media outlets, with over 50 media outlets reporting on it. The total online reach exceeded 100 million, and the total video views on the internet surpassed 17.5 million.
It is not difficult to foresee that this “dual recognition” will not only effectively enhance the brand’s credibility and professionalism in the minds of consumers but also expand the brand’s influence, opening up a broader market space and strengthening Dr. Plant’s competitiveness in the international market.
In the current accelerated process of globalization, how can Chinese cosmetic brands demonstrate greater confidence and competitiveness in future international competition?
In its nearly 30 years of establishment, Dr. Plant, with Chinese ingredients as its foundation, innovation as its spear, and research and development as its shield, has showcased a Chinese brand’s journey to the global stage and gained widespread recognition. Undoubtedly, this will encourage the entire cosmetics industry to focus on innovation and research and development investment and provide another model for the domestic cosmetics industry in its path towards international competition.
*Source: Euromonitor International (Shanghai) Ltd., based on 2022 global retail sales figures. The Dendrobium skincare products refer to skincare products that emphasize the inclusion of Dendrobium as an ingredient. The research was conducted in November 2023.
**Source: Euromonitor International (Shanghai) Ltd., based on store count as of September 30, 2023. Single-brand skincare specialty stores refer to chain brands that primarily sell skincare products from a single brand and are generally located in shopping centers, commercial streets, communities, etc. The research was conducted in November 2023.
