New cosmetics shops bucking virtual trend

Youth-oriented brick-and-mortar makeup venues show that being there still matters

During the past year when brick-and-mortar stores of all sorts were having a difficult time, newly emerged offline makeup collection stores sustained their rapid expansion in spite of the pandemic.

By January 2020, Shenzhen, Guangdong province-based The Colorist, had opened more than 50 stores in 20 cities across China.

Guangzhou-based Wow Colour established nearly 300 offline stores throughout 2020.

H.E.A.T, also based in Guangdong's capital city, had its finger on the fast-forward button as well of late. Between July 2020 and December 2020, it opened nine brick-and-mortar stores, with average monthly sales revenue surpassing 800,000 yuan ($123,040).

The growth was achieved despite the overall downward trend of China's cosmetics sector. According to a report by management consulting firm McKinsey& Co, February 2020 sales revenue of China's cosmetics and personal care sector dropped by 80 percent year-on-year.

"Many offline stores and commission agents said that the pandemic had inflicted heavy losses on traditional physical cosmetics stores. Self-employed sector participants saw many closures, while most of the traditional chain stores canceled expansion plans. In contrast, the quick expansion of new makeup stores during the pandemic period demonstrated boldness," said a market research report from cbo.cn, a Wuhan, Hubei province-based cosmetics industry news portal.

And the expansion of new players proved to be a success. In September and October 2019, customer volume at new stores of The Colorist in Shenzhen and Guangzhou each surpassed 14,000 on opening day, with people visiting the stores lined up.

On Jan 15, 2020, the day that the first store of The Colorist in Beijing cut the ribbon, daily sales revenue surpassed 200,000 yuan.

Before the opening of The Colorist store in Guangzhou's OneLink Walk shopping mall, Cecilia Chen, a 26-year-old office clerk, had been planning to visit the store for days.

"On opening day, my friend and I arrived at the shopping mall at 9:40 am, 20 minutes earlier than its opening time, just to squeeze into the first batch of visitors to the store," said Chen.

When they arrived, they found that the shopping experience was worth the wait, she recalled.