Communication Strategies of China’s Cosmetic Brands on World Beauty Market

In the past decade, Chinese cosmetic brands have emerged as significant players in the global beauty industry, a phenomenon commonly referred to as “C-beauty”. This paper investigates the factors driving their overseas promotion, the challenges they face, and the opportunities available in an increasingly competitive market. It addresses a notable gap in both Chinese and foreign academic literature, which has predominantly focused on foreign brands’ adaptation to the Chinese market or domestic “guochao” marketing, leaving C-beauty’s internationalization and overseas performance underexplored.

The aim of the study is to explore how Chinese cosmetic brands construct, communicate, and adapt their identities in overseas markets, and how cultural and strategic factors influence their reception in different global regions.

This research analyses Chinese cosmetic brands’ (C-beauty) global expansion through an interdisciplinary prism of the country-of-origin effect and cultural adaptation theory.

Based on secondary data analysis and three illustrative cases — Florasis, Perfect Diary, and Herborist — the research uncovers the following major trends: competitive pricing models, storytelling of cultural roots, use of digital channels, and fast product innovation.

Results suggest that the country-of-origin perception serves as a strategic variable: where markets are culturally receptive, brands strengthen their original roots; where markets prove less receptive, they implement cosmopolitan and culturally neutral communication. Cultural adaptation becomes central for the balance between brand originality and market-related resonance. Recommendations follow in the report, including the importance of strategic communication in shaping an overseas identity of C-beauty as well as China’s soft power through beauty export.