ByteDance, the parent company of Tiktok and its Chinese version, Douyin, has launched its own fragrance brand.
The Emotif line of perfumes, developed by a ByteDance subsidiary, is said to be testing some products on third-party e-commerce platforms in China, priced at 19.9 yuan ($3.13) for 2 ml bottles and 198 yuan ($31.20) for 9 ml. bottles.
The Beijing-based social commerce giant has been investing in consumer products for years, especially in food, beverage and personal care, but this marks its first foray into the fragrance category.
A report by iResearch shows the Chinese perfume market is growing rapidly, from 6.16 billion yuan ($867 million) in 2017 to 12.53 billion yuan ($1.76 billion) in 2020. It is also seen as a market with enormous potential for future growth, as China only accounted for 2.5 percent of global perfume consumption in 2019.
The market has been dominated by international brands until recently, when local players began attracting more attention from consumers and investors alike. In 2020, beauty retailer Harmay invested an undisclosed multi-million yuan figure in the Me Ft. We brand, and last September, Spanish perfume and beauty conglomerate Puig invested in Chinese player, Scent Library.
To Summer, a VC-backed, home fragrance label that has garnered huge interest among Chinese consumers, has also expanded from its online-only business by opening multiple physical stores recently.
Learn more:
How China’s New Love Affair With Perfume Is Changing the Market
Young consumers are driving spectacular growth in China’s fragrance sales, creating new opportunities in one of the few market segments where the country is not yet a dominant force.
