(Yicai) May 8 -- The concentration in the Chinese cosmetics market continued to increase last year, as more and more domestic brands gain popularity, according to the head of an industry association.

China's cosmetics market recorded CNY1.1 trillion (USD161.7 billion) worth of transactions in 2025, up 2.8 percent from the year before, with transactions by the top 50 brands increasing as much as 12 percent, Yao Yongbin, director of the Industry Research Department of the China Association of Fragrance Flavor and Cosmetic Industries, said at a conference yesterday.

The number of cosmetics brands with a market value of over CNY10 billion (USD1.5 billion) in the Chinese market rose to five -- L'Oréal Paris, Lancôme, Estée Lauder, Proya, and Kans -- last year from four in 2024, according to the results of the 2025 Top 50 Cosmetics Brands Survey released at the conference.

Meanwhile, the number of brands with a market value of CNY5 million (USD735 million) to CNY10 billion increased to 14 from 11.

Twenty-three of China’s top 50 cosmetics brands were Chinese last year, compared with 22 the year before, the survey results also showed. Their retail scale surged 18 percent to CNY110.5 billion (USD16.2 billion) in the period, and their market share widened to over 57 percent.

Domestic products are shifting from traffic-driven to value-driven, Yao noted. Brands spent more on traffic last year, but with traffic reaching its peak, brand value and brand premium have become particularly important, he added.

Cosmetics must attach great importance to offline channels, Yao believes. The industry's overall offline retail segment shrank 0.1 percent last year, while that of the top 50 brands climbed 8.9 percent, showing that the quality of their offline efforts is constantly improving, he explained.

Editor: Futura Costaglione