BEAUTY AND FRAGRANCE MARKET RESEARCH
Discover how to capture more high-value customers.
Case Study Spotlight: Unlocking the Affluent Chinese Skincare Traveler
The Challenge: A Premium Line Lost in Translation
A premium skincare brand had a premium secret: the “Precious” skincare collection. The goal was to maximize the line’s potential within the lucrative Global Travel Retail (GTR) market. The key audience? The affluent, frequent-traveling Chinese cosmetics buyer. The challenge wasn’t just selling a product but understanding why this high-value buyer wasn’t connecting with a luxury offering from a brand they already knew and trusted.
The Discovery: Skincare is Identity
Our deep-dive research uncovered seven fundamental “truths” about this elusive consumer, moving beyond simple demographics to emotional drivers:
- Identity, Not Function: For these women, skincare is more than a routine; it’s an identity signifier3. It is tied to their self-worth and emotional reward system, making product choice a serious, passion-driven investment.
- The Perception Gap: We discovered that while the premium skincare brand was respected, it was largely perceived as a “familiar, essential, and practical” brand—not a symbol of prestige. As a result, many affluent buyers were unaware of the Precious collection and didn’t expect a luxury line in the premium skincare brands’ portfolio.
- The ‘Grocery Store’ Experience: The typical airport duty-free environment, often rushed and crowded, felt like a transactional “grocery store” trip, not a welcoming space for discovering a new, high-end product.
- The Trust Factor: These buyers are informed, cautious, and highly skeptical of direct brand communication. Their purchasing power is driven by genuine user reviews and trusted personal recommendations, with social media platforms like Red Note being central to their research.
The Solution: From Practicality to Prestige
Our strategic recommendations provided the premium skincare brand with a clear, story-driven roadmap to bridge the luxury gap and maximize their presence:
- Elevate the Narrative: We recommended elevating the brand’s premiumness by moving away from just “practicality.” This meant communicating the premium skincare brand’s Heritage and the advanced, science-backed ingredients of the Precious line to create a stronger emotional connection and associate the brand with indulgence.
- Target the Right Moment: Instead of pushing luxury in the rushed airport environment, we advised leveraging destinations like Hainan Duty-Free. Hainan provides a curated, leisure-focused, “vacation indulgence” setting—the perfect mindset for consumers to explore and splurge on high-end skincare sets.
- Build Authentic Buzz: To bypass the consumer’s distrust of commercial content, we outlined a strategy to drive awareness through authentic storytelling and collaborations with “Rich Lady” style celebrities and influencers, focusing on genuine, peer-to-peer discussions on key social platforms.
This detailed understanding of the buyer’s motivations, purchase journey, and emotional triggers gave Clarins the precise strategy needed to reposition Precious, moving the brand from an “essential” choice to a desired prestige indulgence in the world’s most dynamic travel market.
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