Today (September 15), China’s National Bureau of Statistics released the latest retail sales data for consumer goods.
The data shows that in August, total retail sales of consumer goods reached 3.9668 trillion yuan, up 3.4% year-on-year. Retail sales of cosmetics reached 34.9 billion yuan, an increase of 5.1%. From January to August, total retail sales of consumer goods reached 32.3906 trillion yuan, up 4.6%, while cosmetics retail sales totaled 291.5 billion yuan, up 3.3% year-on-year.
Overall, from January to August, national online retail sales reached 9.9828 trillion yuan, an increase of 9.6% year-on-year. Among them, online retail sales of physical goods reached 8.0964 trillion yuan, up 6.4%, accounting for 25.0% of total retail sales of consumer goods. Within online physical goods, food, clothing, and household categories grew by 15.0%, 2.4%, and 5.7%, respectively.
According to CHAILEEDO’s analysis of cosmetics retail sales data for August over the past 10 years (2016–2025), the overall trend shows growth in total sales, but year-on-year growth has been volatile. Specifically, from 2016 to 2020, cosmetics retail sales in August increased steadily each year, with relatively strong growth. In 2021, August cosmetics retail sales recorded 0% year-on-year growth, marking the first time growth stagnated. In August 2022, sales fell 6.4% year-on-year, showing a decline. In August 2023, sales rebounded with 9.7% growth, returning to a growth track. In August 2024, sales dropped again. In August 2025, sales returned to positive growth.
Looking at monthly cosmetics retail data for this year: from January to May, cosmetics sales continued to grow, with April seeing the strongest growth at 7.2%. In June, sales fell 2.3%. Entering the second half of the year, sales in July and August resumed growth, with a notably faster pace.
In terms of customs import data, in August 2025, China imported a total of 30,659.2 tons of “beauty, cosmetics, and personal care products,” with an import value of 8.86 billion yuan. From January to August 2025, cumulative imports of these products reached 232,589.1 tons, up 9.7% year-on-year in volume, with a cumulative import value of 78.21 billion yuan, up 0.7% year-on-year.
