(Yicai Global) June 22 -- Annual registrations in China of razor-related companies has doubled to more than 4,700 since 2015, of which over 3,000 still survive, according to corporate information platform Qichacha.

Foreign brands account for about 30 percent of the total sales volume and 60 percent of sales revenue. Their price is four times that of a Chinese brand. Royal Philips Electronics, Braun and Panasonic occupy the mid-to-high-end market, while Chinese brands including those of Shanghai Flyco Electrical Appliance and Xiaomi lead in the mid-to-low-end market.

Razor-related companies in China’s southeastern Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Guangdong provinces rank in the top three. Small and mid-sized companies with registered capital of less than CNY5 million (USD706,500) make up 85 percent of the sector, but they are competitively quite weak.

China logged 156 patent applications for electric razors in 2018, up from 2017’s 28. That figure was 693 last year, up nearly 10 percent over 2018.

China sold nearly 55 million razors last year, said Liang Bin, senior research manager of China Market Monitor’s small appliance division. Sales fell by 15 percent to 16 percent in the first five months under the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Razors were a bestseller on JD.Com’s Father's Day campaign yesterday and sales are expected to peak in the first half.

Editor: Ben Armour