In recent years, there has been a trend of foreign cosmetics companies in China closing stores or exiting the Chinese market. Following the exit of NYX, a popular mask brand under the French cosmetics giant L’Oreal, from the Chinese online market, the online stores of another well-known mask brand under the same group, Meijiguo, have also been taken down.
Reports from the “Xiaoxiang Morning News” and “Guangzhou Daily” on October 3 revealed that Meijiguo’s flagship store on Taobao and its skincare flagship store on Douyin are no longer searchable, while all products on Meijiguo’s self-operated flagship store on JD.com have been delisted.
Furthermore, an announcement was made on Meijiguo’s official mini-program stating that their official online store will close on October 30.
The last update on Meijiguo’s official WeChat account was reported on July 31 this year, and there has been no further activity since then.
According to customer service representatives of the relevant e-commerce platforms, Meijiguo’s official sales channels stopped accepting orders starting from September 30. Customers can still purchase products through offline channels.
Public records show that Meijiguo Holdings International Limited, previously a subsidiary of Huahan Health, is now under the ownership of L’Oreal. The company specializes in skincare products and is a major mask manufacturer in China.
Meijiguo’s masks were once the most popular brand in the Chinese market, sold in retail chains such as Watsons, Walmart, and Carrefour. It was once hailed as the “King of Masks” in China.
In August 2016, L’Oreal financial reports disclosed a impairment loss of 213 million euros (approximately 1.667 billion yuan) for Meijiguo in the first half of 2016.
Similarly, in May of this year, L’Oreal’s makeup brand NYXPROMAKEUP (“NYX”) announced the closure of its official overseas flagship store on Taobao.
Moreover, all items were removed from NYX’s Douyin showcase, with historical sales exceeding 40,000.
NYX is a key brand under L’Oreal’s consumer products division. In 2019, it opened an official overseas flagship store on Taobao International. During the 2021 “618” shopping festival, NYX topped the charts as the best-selling makeup brand on Taobao International. Even as of May 28 this year, NYX’s 40-color eyeshadow palette and dopamine eyeshadow palette ranked among the top two best-selling imported eye shadows on Taobao in the past seven days.
In recent years, there has been a wave of foreign cosmetics companies in China either closing stores or completely exiting the market.
In addition to the mentioned major brands under L’Oreal’s consumer products division, the American makeup brand Benefit announced the end of its online operations in China at the end of 2023. Another American makeup brand, Maybelline New York, has also significantly closed offline stores in the Chinese market.
Other foreign companies that have closed stores include Amorepacific Group’s Innisfree, LG Household & Health Care, Etude House, Hera, and IOPE from South Korea, which have successively withdrawn from physical stores in China.