LONDON — While the world continues to be disrupted by the virus, China has been largely COVID-19 free for nearly a 12 months. With global traveling a no-go, and mask-wearing here to remain, the nation’s beauty market has adjusted to this recent reality with major developments in sales-driven online initiatives, clean and cruelty-free beauty, domestic duty-free shopping and area of interest brand acquisitions.

“Due to the wearing of masks, the demand for clean beauty has grown, and the necessity for facial cleansing and maintenance has also increased,” said Mao Geping, considered one of China’s most celebrated makeup artists.

Throughout the pandemic, like many others, he began to work with influencers and vloggers to share makeup skills or promote his label via livestreaming. A video of him transforming the face of China’s most-followed fashion vlogger Teacher Xu has near 1 million views on China streaming site Bilibili and half million on YouTube up to now.

Mao made a reputation for himself within the early ’90s for a series of magical makeup tutorial videos through which he turned abnormal Chinese women into glamorous starlets. At the moment, when most of China was still grasping the concept of capitalism, his visionary approach to beauty inspired a generation of Chinese women.

Also benefiting from the livestreaming trend is the Shanghai-based clean beauty brand Forest Cabin, or Lin Qin Xuan in Chinese.

Throughout the pandemic, the corporate’s cofounder Sun Fuchun was among the many first to sell via livestreaming in an attempt to save lots of the corporate from bankruptcy, as half of its points of sales across China were shut resulting from government regulations and safety concerns.

Its best-known organic camellia oil was later marketed as a product that may repair the damage to nurse’s skin after they wear masks for an extended time period. The brand is now considered one of the bestselling skincare brands on Tmall.

One other hot topic that has emerged during 2020 was the revision to China’s cosmetics animal testing rules.

Earlier this month, China’s National Medical Products Administration announced that imported abnormal cosmetics is not going to be required to undergo animal testing from May 1, opening the best way for a wave of recent beauty brands to enter the country that had previously avoided the world’s second-largest beauty market — the U.S. is the biggest — over ethical values.

For instance, Brazilian beauty conglomerate and cruelty-free beauty leader, Natura & Co., the parent company of Aesop and The Body Shop announced days later that each brands are eyeing for China market entry.

Roberto Marques, chairman of Natura & Co., said Aesop is anticipated to open its first store in Shanghai within the fourth quarter of 2021, and The Body Shop’s first store in China is about to open in 2022.

The Body Shop was once available at duty-free shops in Chinese airports, however the brand exited the market in 2014 resulting from animal testing regulations.

No brand will probably say no to duty-free shops in China nowadays, as this sector has seen exponential growth since China’s tightened its broader control.

Cities akin to Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing and Hainan Island’s capital Haikou and tourist hotspot Sanya have all made strategic moves to be able to take an even bigger share of this lucrative market, where beauty and fragrances are the largest sellers. In reality, each L’Oréal and Estée Lauder cited spectacular growth in China during their latest earning calls.

Not long after the central government loosened regulations on this lucrative sector last June, DFS Group, the Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned travel retail operator, acquired a 22 percent stake in Shenzhen Duty Free Ecommerce Co., which is majority-owned by Shenzhen Duty Free Group. The 2 recently unveiled the primary phase of their recent downtown duty-free shopping complex in Haikou Mission Hills.

China Duty Free Group, the biggest duty-free operator in China, also announced expansion plans with Sanya Phoenix International Airport to open duty-free shops within the airport to further capture the influx of tourists.

In January, Dufry unveiled a cooperative agreement with Hainan Development Holdings and opened its first shop on Jan. 31, on the Global Duty Free Plaza on the Mova Mall in Haikou. At the identical time, Lagardère formed a partnership with the Hainan Tourism Investment Development to open the second-largest downtown duty-free store in Sanya.

Driven by attractive discounts and the nice and cozy weather, over the Chinese Recent 12 months holiday, which ran from Feb. 11 to 17, duty-free stores on Hainan Island saw sales exceed 1.5 billion yuan, or $231.2 million, doubling the quantity recorded in the identical period for 2019.

Constructing on this momentum, Haikou will even host the primary China International Consumer Products Expo from May 7 to 10. Confirmed participants include Galeries Lafayette, DFS Group, Tapestry Inc., Swatch Group, L’Oréal Group, Shiseido and Kao.

While international beauty corporations fight to enter the market and go after China’s affluent shoppers, a number of the largest Chinese beauty groups with high mass market shares were coping with a distinct set of challenges.

Shanghai Jahwa, which relies heavily on traditional sales channels, saw its revenue down by 7.43 percent in 2020 resulting from the pandemic. But Jahwa’s premium and specialist offerings like Vive, Gaofu, Dr. Yu and Herborist Derma, still managed to realize healthy growth within the second half.

Within the third quarter, the corporate also adjusted its e-commerce business structure, optimizing the frequency and proportion of livestreaming and cultivating streaming talents inside the company to enhance profitability.

For the more digitally savvy Proya Cosmetic, its 2020 beauty sales are estimated to extend by greater than 10 percent. The corporate cited e-commerce because the primary driver of that growth. Its gross merchandise value on Alibaba’s platforms alone grew 40 percent and surpassed 1.89 billion renminbi, or $292 million. The corporate also arrange an incubation program with Alibaba’s Tmall to forester start-ups in the wonder sector.

The newly listed Yatsen Holding Ltd., the parent company of cosmetics and skincare brands Perfect Diary, Little Ondine, Abby’s Selection and Galénic, posted a rise of 72.6 percent on revenue in 2020. A pioneer of the direct-to-consumer model in China, Perfect Diary was also the bestselling Chinese beauty brand during last 12 months’s Singles’ Day shopping festival on Tmall.

The corporate recently doubled down on area of interest brand investments to future-proof its profitability. In March, it announced plans to amass the London-based beauty brand Eve Lom that has amassed a cult-like following over time for its botanical cleanser cream. Last 12 months, it acquired the premium skincare brand Galénic from Pierre Fabre.

Omnichannel brand partner Ushopal, which announced the close of a $100 million round of funding in early March, is one other Chinese player that has been energetic in area of interest beauty brand acquisitions.

The group has already invested in several of its brand partners, akin to Natura Bissé from Spain and perfume label Juliette Has a Gun, which was created by Nina Ricci’s great-grandson Romano.