For Hong Kong beauties

Sales figures in Hong Kong 

Revenue in the cosmetics and personal care market in Hong Kong amounted to US$ 1.9 billion in 2016*. Compared with China’s turnover of  33.52 billion Euros in 2017**, it is not a very big market but still plays an important role in Asia Pacific. 

Cosmetic regulations

In Hong Kong the drug office is responsible for pharmaceutical products, and the customs office supervises untrue or unfair claims.

There are no local mandatory labelling or registration requirements on cosmetic products. If a product does not include any pharmaceutical ingredients and the claims on its labels and promotional materials are not seen as promoting curative functions, then registration as a pharmaceutical is not required. 

Importers in Hong Kong, however, are obliged to list fully and correctly the ingredients of their products. If the ingredients of the products sold are found to contain pharmaceutical substances, the importer might be seen as committing the offence of selling an unregistered pharmaceutical product.

Animal testing is not required for any product. There are no import duties and no registration costs on cosmetics, so the prices of cosmetics in Hong Kong are very competitive. New products can be launched quickly into the market. This is a big advantage for colour make-up products as fashion trends change quickly here. 

Market: Facts and figures 

Hong Kong is a showcase for international cosmetics brands in the Asian and Pacific area. It is a shopping paradise, not so much for Hong Kongers as for international tourists, especially for Chinese from the mainland.

Visitors in Hong Kong reached a record 60.8 million in 2014 that was 8 times more than its own population. More than 60 million tourists were expected in Hong Kong in 2018. Cosmetics remains one of the three most popular shopping items among visitors. Visitors spent a total of 25,768 million HK$ (US$ 3,282 million) on cosmetics products including colour make-up, skin care and perfume in 2016. Cosmetics and personal care products are popular items bought by both mainland and international tourists. After all, a broad choice of brands is available, service quality is high, products are authentic and pricing is competitive.

With an estimated sales value of cosmetics at US$ 1.956 billion in 2018*, Hong Kong’s personal care and cosmetic products market has a very small manufacturing sector of its own and is dominated by international brands. 

The five largest suppliers are China, France, Japan, South Korea, and USA. Most of the imported cosmetics from China are international brands such as Procter & Gamble, L’Oréal, Unilever, Kanebo and Kao which have their own production plants in China. 

Most of the companies in the industry are traders. Hong Kong has a number of experienced distributors, who are well versed in the specificities of regional markets and regulations. 

Logistics are well developed in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong International Airport is the world’s busiest airport for international cargoes and Hong Kong’s container port is one of the world’s busiest. 

In terms of e-tail opportunities, Hong Kong is an ideal hub for a distribution centre serving both the mainland and regional clients due to well-developed warehousing, delivery services and ICT (information and communications technology) infrastructure.