For Chinese consumers, BIODERMA is almost synonymous with make-up remover. But for its native French consumers, it represents a brand with safe and effective biotech skincare.
BIODERMA is a brand founded on the idea of “biotechnology for skin problems”. Created in 1985 in Lyon, France, it had a biotech laboratory of the same name. The first star product born in this laboratory was the BIODERMA Make-up Removing, known to the Chinese as a make-up remover.
No promotion or endorsement but only recommended by dermatologists and pharmacists for its safety and efficacy, BIODERMA Make-up Removing quickly became a hit in France and was sold worldwide with a record of 8 bottles sold every minute.
In 2011, BIODERMA officially entered China and established a subsidiary in Shanghai – Shanghai BIODERMA Cosmetics Trading Co. BIODERMA Make-up Removing officially entered China and soon became famous as a safe and effective make-up remover, which sold well in China and has been growing at a high rate.
In 2016, the Chinese makeup market boomed and the makeup remover market expanded with it. As a result, BIODERMA expanded rapidly into the Chinese market, where BIODERMA makeup remover can be found in almost every offline cosmetics store. In 2018, sales of BIODERMA grew by more than 30%.
In promotional campaign on June 18th in Tmall, BIODERMA won the Top 1 sales in the makeup remover category, which is the biggest winner in makeup remover category of the campaign. The store sold a total of 620,000 products and the its star product, BIODERMA Make-up Removing, exceeded $8,596,500 in cumulative sales in the campaign.
BIODERMA has been in China for 10 years. It relied on offline channels to build up deep consumer awareness and maintained a steady annual growth of 20%. In 2013, BIODERMA accelerated its online channel with official authorized stores on mainstream e-commerce platforms such as Jingdong, Xiaohongshu, Tmall Supermarket and Vipshop. Today, BIODERMA’s online and offline channels contribute equally to its performance. In 2019, in contrast to the mainstream, BIODERMA began to emphasize the “foundation” of the CS channel. Even after the epidemic, it still increased its investment in the offline channel.
The head of BIODERMA has said in an interview that BIODERMA wants to achieve balance in all channel – both online should achieve grow and offline stores should provide consumers with in-store experience and service. She also said that the cooperation with well-positioned makeup stores has been potent in building the connection between the BIODERMA and customers, especially in Chinese fourth and fifth-tier cities where e-commerce penetration is actually still very low. The recommendation of shopper guide and reputation transmission of product quality are still the main ways of sales.
In the Chinese market, targeted audience of BIODERMA are young women aged 18-25 covering Tier 1 to Tier 5 cities. Generation Z consumers advocate beauty and health and have the pursuit of quality of life. They are very willing and are brave to consumption. In the face of the rising consumption of Generation Z, BIODERMA actively narrows the distance with consumers. The brand choose to cooperate with some young and popular Chinese celebrities who match the tone of brand. It aims to strengthen the connection of “endorsement + product + concept”.
Currently, spokesperson of BIODERMA makeup remover is young Chinese actor Li Yifeng and its ambassador of body care and makeup remover is popular idol Bo Yuan. Both of them have clean, positive and healthy images that fit well with the brand.
BIODERMA headquarters calls the Chinese market “dragon” and has been giving it high priority since 2017.
The French lab and R&D team have developed some products that are different from the European market in terms of color, fragrance, ingredients, efficacy and texture, which will be more in line with preferences of Chinese consumers. For example, the “Year of the Ox” Limited Edition Cleanser was launched by BIODERMA for China. It is designed with elements of traditional Chinese paper-cutting art.
The marketing techniques can be very different as well in China. In France, BIODERMA Original DNA is a healthy skincare brand that uses biotechnology to solve skin problems and relies more on dermatologists’ recommendations and prescriptions. In China, on the other hand, BIODERMA will combine some Chinese marketing trends to work with KOLs and ingredient-centric experts. It also will apply digital marketing methods such as live-streaming with products and private domain operations while providing high-quality humanized professional skincare services.
