Intensified competition

Data from the National Health Commission showed in January that the number of regulation-compliant specialized medical aesthetics institutions in China reached 18,584 — excluding public institutions and private comprehensive institutions, which account for about 10 percent of the total number based on past data.

Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, Xi'an in Shaanxi province, Beijing, Chengdu in Sichuan province, and Shanghai are the top five cities that had the most newly established institutions (with 0-5 years of operations) as of January 2023, according to the Deloitte report. Their newly established institutions accounted for 69 percent, 67 percent, 53 percent, 50 percent and 48 percent of the nation's total, respectively.

This propelled medical institutions to embrace new trends such as online platforms, and attach greater importance to marketing in their development strategy.

During last year's Singles' Day shopping spree around Nov 11, the price of the well-known Juvederm dermal filler collection dropped to as low as 1,999 yuan per syringe during the livestreaming sessions of several medical aesthetics institutions, whereas their market price typically ranges from 9,000 yuan to 12,000 yuan per syringe.

"Looking back at the past year, the medical aesthetics market has shown a trend of 'strong start but weak finish', with price-oriented competition making revenue fall short of expectations, leading to chaotic development of the industry," said Jin Xing, chairman and CEO of SoYoung.

The overly intense competition and vicious rivalry among private medical aesthetics institutions have triggered a series of issues, posing significant challenges to the healthy and smooth development of the industry, Jin said.

The escalating price war is reducing medical aesthetics to a labor-intensive industry, while it is supposed to be a knowledge-intensive one due to its knowledge- and expertise-driven nature, said Li of BeauCare Clinics.

"The level of medical prowess, not prices, should always be the core competitive strength of an institution," he said. "If medical treatment is geared toward growth ends and consumer demand, it can easily lead to over-diagnosis and overtreatment."

In addition, upstream material and equipment manufacturers are also adapting to market demand by increasing their promotional efforts and continuously launching simpler-to-use and more effective products to stimulate growth of medical aesthetics consumption, said Wu Wenyun, director of Beijing-based Myoung BeauCare Clinic.

"Although consumers can now access medical aesthetics information through increasingly diverse channels, the information may sometimes be inaccurate or distorted, which may lead to risks and pitfalls in their pursuit of beauty," Wu said.