Beauty consumers in China highly value unblemished skin and use cosmetic laser procedures to achieve blemish free skin.

Sales of cosmetic laser procedures increase by 25% a year

China is potentially one of the largest if not the largest - beautycare markets in the world. As in other medicalised beauty markets worldwide, demand for cosmetic laser procedures is increasing at a spectacular rate. Experts in Chinese clinics interviewed by Diagonal Reports report growth rates of up to 25% annually.

However, the Chinese market has some distinguishing features which mark it out from the US or European cosmetic laser markets. In China skin care  is the leading cosmetic laser/energy procedure and not hair removal which is the top procedure elsewhere. Skin care can account for up to 80% of business in Chinese cosmetic laser clinics.

Younger clients are the most important consumers for laser skin care services in China. Unlike the US or Europe where clients tend to be older and seeking to reduce or reverse signs of ageing, the majority of cosmetic laser clients in China are young and do not have any specific skin problem. Rather younger Chinese consumers want blemish free skin and are looking for skin treatments which will brighten their complexion.

The importance of skin care in cosmetic lasers mirrors the wider beauty market in China where skin care account for a higher percentage of the beauty market than in other countries. Chinese beauty consumers highly value unblemished skin.

Lasers offer these consumers beauty solutions that are fast, effective and often long lasting. Cosmetic lasers benefit greatly from the emergence of an extremely technology friendly generation - younger people familiar with mobile phones, monitors and computers. The beauty sector in China has leap-frogged over a number of stages with the result that beauty care professionals and consumers are not aware that the latest technology is so innovative. This contrasts with other countries where there can be resistance to and suspicion about cosmetic lasers due to entrenched loyalties to more traditional beauty regimes.

Experts are confident that the strong growth seen in recent years in cosmetic laser will continue for at least another five years. Indeed previous Diagonal Reports research in China shows that historically the beauty market has outperformed the economy and that actual growth rates for any year recently have exceeded earlier forecasts. Cosmetic laser technology will be a blockbuster category in its own right, and could replace other long established beauty categories and products.