On demand webinar
Entering China in 2027: A New Formula for Market Entry
50 minutes·Presented by Dr Adam Knight, co-founder, YASO·September 2026
The practicalities of getting into China have never been more straightforward. The competition and the cost have never been more intense. This session sets out where the market actually stands for foreign beauty and wellness brands in 2026 — what's growing, what you're legally allowed to sell, what to lead with, and how to generate your first sales before you ever open a storefront.
- Regulatory routes compared: cross-border versus general trade
- Realistic timelines, budgets and margin structures to first sale
Year-on-year growth in China beauty in 2025, to roughly half a trillion renminbi
Beauty e-commerce growth in Q1 2026 — about twice the rate of Chinese retail overall
Share of the beauty market now held by domestic Chinese brands
What you'll learn
- How the China beauty market is really performing, and why the headline economic numbers mislead
- What's possible from a regulatory perspective — cross-border versus general trade, and what changed on animal testing in July 2026
- Which subcategories still hold green space for foreign brands, and which are effectively closed
- How to build demand on Xiaohongshu before you open a Tmall or Douyin store
- Realistic timelines, budgets and margin structures — what it actually costs to get to first sale
- The three partnership models on offer in China, and the four questions to ask any potential partner
Inside the session
- 01How the market works today — what's working, what isn't00:00
- 02What's possible: compliance, registration and IP07:00
- 03Choosing what to lead with: where the category opportunity sits15:00
- 04Generating demand and your first sales25:00
- 05Timelines, budgets and the honest economics34:00
- 06Who to partner with43:00
China's macro headlines mask enormous category-level variation. Beauty hit roughly half a trillion renminbi in 2025, up 5.1% year on year, with beauty e-commerce up 6.8% in the first quarter of 2026 — growing at roughly twice the rate of Chinese retail overall. Estée Lauder Companies reported a sixth consecutive quarter of share gains in mainland China. L'Oréal posted record H1 2026 results with China named as a core driver of its North Asia recovery.
Domestic brands now hold around 57% of the beauty market — the question is not whether China is growing, but where a foreign brand can still win.
The full session covers the regulatory routes into China and which one fits your formulations, where the category green space sits across fragrance, clinical skincare, scalp and body, and what 12 to 18 months to payback actually requires.