Consumer shift: Perfect Diary’s new multi-benefit lipstick attracts ‘high-value customers’

According to the firm, the launch of the Biolip Essence Lipstick has garnered positive feedback and has been successful overall with positive rankings on both Alibaba’s Tmall, and Bytedance’s Douyin.

“We have received very positive feedback from our users as they enjoyed very strong efficacy from the lipsticks. Basically, our philosophy is to have a very perfect makeup look, combined with skin care level efficacy benefits from the lipstick,” ​said Irene Lyu, vice president, head of strategic investments and capital markets, Yatsen Holdings, the parent company of Perfect Dairy.

In particular, the strategic initiatives undertaken by the company have propelled the expansion of the brand, reaching out and resonating with a significantly broader consumer base.

“The user profile started to shift after our brand upgrade and the new launch. Historically, our consumers were most likely Gen Zs, young consumers from lower tier cities. But after we launched this new product and the brand upgrades, our price points started to increase. We started to see more high-value customers coming to buy our lipstick, including for example, the sophisticated young mums and the upper middle class,” ​said Lyu.

New hero product

Perfect Dairy launched Biolip Essence Lipstick at the end of September as part of the company’s efforts to reposition its flagship brand.

The new product claims to combine the effects of lipstick, lip essence, and lip mask in one product. It was targeted at Chinese beauty consumers who are now demanding higher quality, innovation, and value from their products.

The lipstick features a pomegranate peptide complex, and the effects of the ingredient are said to be boosted by the Biolip technology, which claims to form a protective barrier on the lips.

Clinical testing showed that the lipstick could reduce the fine lips on the lips by 53.39% in two weeks.

“The brand’s new hero product, Biolip Essence Lipstick, leverages our exclusive Biolip technology, which creates a bionic film upon application to protect the lip fragile skin barrier. Biolip’s strong efficacy in lip line reduction was validated by the prestigious Ruijin Hospital and SGS testing agency,”​ said Huang Jinfeng, founder, chairman and CEO of Yatsen Holdings.

Despite the success of the new launch, Yatsen reported that makeup net revenues from decreased by 21.5% year-over-year.

This was attributed primarily to the decline in Perfect Diary sales and the closure of underperforming offline stores.

“Amid uncertainties in consumer demand, Yatsen remained committed to its strategic transformation plan. We continuously strive to build strong brand equity based on superior product performance and consumer satisfaction,”​ said Huang.

According to the firm, the sales contributions from Biolip Essence Lipstick will start to show on its financial statements in the fourth quarter.

Huang concluded: “China’s beauty market is still in the process of a modest recovery this year. Looking forward, we will continue to adapt flexibility and are confident in our resources and ability to advance our strategic transformation plan.”​