In the post-pandemic era, electric toothbrushes have penetrated into lower-tier cities, and domestic brands have gradually gained market share from foreign brands due to their advantages in design, functionality, and cost-effectiveness.
Today (August 16th), the China Oral Care Industry Association released the “2023 Q1-Q3 Oral Care Industry Briefing,” which revealed the online retail trends in the Chinese oral care industry for the period of January to July 2023.
From January to July 2023, the online retail sales of the oral care industry on major e-commerce platforms in China reached 12.9 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 3.9%. Among them, Douyin (Chinese version of TikTok) and Kwai emerged as the fastest-growing channels in the oral care industry, with growth rates exceeding 60% and 50% respectively.
In terms of specific product categories, toothpaste/tooth powder category saw a year-on-year growth of 9.8% and increased its market share to 44.3%, becoming the backbone of the oral care industry. Electric toothbrushes accounted for a market share of 22.2%, ranking second with a year-on-year growth of 4.7%. The toothbrush category held a market share of 10.9%, ranking third in the industry with a remarkable growth rate of 16.7%. The remaining subcategories continued their downward trend, with mouth sprays experiencing a significant decline of 18.2% and water flossers declining by 15.6%.
The briefing indicated that essential products such as toothpaste and toothbrushes have shown good stability in consumer demand. However, non-essential products like water flossers and mouth sprays have experienced a slower market recovery due to factors such as reduced marketing efforts, the recovery of offline oral care channels, and the diversion of consumers to other medical oral care products.
Regarding brand rankings in the toothpaste industry, the top five brands are Yunnan Baiyao, Darlie, Crest, Colgate, and Saky, with their respective online retail shares being 11.6%, 7.9%, 6.7%, 5.9%, and 4.9%. The brands ranking six to ten are Sensodyne, ORALSHARK, Lengsuanling, Jingxiutang, and Lion. Oral Shark Probiotic Whitening Toothpaste and Jingxiutang Golden Edition Toothpaste topped the list as the best-selling products on all e-commerce platforms.
In the electric toothbrush industry, the top five brands are Usmile, Philips, Oral-B, Xiaomi, and Flyco, with their online retail shares being 26.8%, 21.7%, 9.8%, 4.7%, and 4.5%, respectively. The brands ranking six to ten are Saky, BAIR, Fupai, Panasonic, and IMASK. Usmile witnessed a 65.1% year-on-year growth, surpassing Philips to become the industry leader.
In the post-pandemic era, electric toothbrushes have penetrated into lower-tier cities, and domestic brands have gradually gained market share from foreign brands due to their advantages in design, functionality, and cost-effectiveness. The growth rates of foreign brands such as Philips, Oral-B, BAIR, and Panasonic have declined in the period from January to July.
Regarding the toothbrush industry, the top five brands are EBISU, Lion, Colgate, Darlie, and Saky, with their online retail shares being 8.0%, 6.8%, 6.0%, 5.5%, and 5.4% respectively. The brands ranking six to ten are Frog, Sanxiao, Namei, Crest, and Longlejon. Sanshao made significant progress on the Douyin platform, occupying the top spot in the brand rankings and achieving substantial year-on-year growth.
For flossers, the top five brands are Bixdo, Usmile, BAIR, Xiaomi, and Panasonic, with their online retail shares being 17.0%, 11.6%, 11.3%, 7.6%, and 7.5% respectively. The market share of the top three brands in the flosser industry has increased to nearly 40%.
In the mouthwash industry, the top five brands are Listerine, BOP, Crest, NYSCPS, and Ora2, with their online retail shares being 20.6%, 9.5%, 6.1%, 6.0%, and 3.8% respectively. Listerine faced challenges from emerging domestic brands, experiencing a 26.4% decline in retail sales from January to July. Domestic brands BOP and NYSCPS achieved rapid growth with year-on-year increases of 44.0% and 59.0% respectively.
In terms of the oral care market segmentation analysis, consumer demand is leaning towards essential products. Retail strategies are moving towards emotional connections, such as couple or family-oriented toothbrush sets. New products are upgrading towards beauty and cosmetic aspects,with features like whitening, anti-aging, and natural ingredients gaining popularity.
