JD.com, Standing at the Center of the Beauty Industry

“In the past few years, I've been much more hesitant about buying skincare products than before.”

Li Wei, who has just started working not long ago, found that choosing a favorite toner is not an easy task. The popular products vigorously promoted by live - stream hosts seem to be short - lived. Frequent promotions by international luxury brands expose their brand premium. Domestic and emerging brands have affordable prices, but their R & D capabilities and active ingredients are often questioned.

Li Wei's hesitation is not an isolated case. The beauty industry seems to be lost in a fog without a clear direction: traffic is scattered everywhere, popular products come and go quickly, and price wars are frequently staged. Brands are deeply trapped in the vicious cycle of advertising investment, while consumers have become more rational and are no longer easily swayed by marketing stories. Instead, they focus on ingredients, product origin, and long - term user experience.

That's why when JD Beauty presented an “anti - cycle” report card, it stood out.

On September 19th, JD Beauty held its first “Beauty Awards” ceremony in Tianjin. The data disclosed at the event showed that in the first half of 2025, JD Beauty achieved double - digit growth, and the growth rate has been accelerating for four consecutive quarters.

Moreover, the business share of imported luxury brands on JD Beauty has quietly risen to the top echelon among mainstream e - commerce platforms. JD is among the top online sales channels for dozens of luxury brands such as SK - II, La Mer, Lancôme, Helena Rubinstein, Estée Lauder, YSL, Dior Beauty, and Givenchy.

In the beauty market that alternates between frenzy and silence, brands are gradually realizing that what is truly scarce is not traffic, but certainty.

As short - term dividends fade away, the one who can provide the often - overlooked “slow values” - stability, efficiency, supply - chain advantages, and shopping experience - will stand at the center of the beauty industry.

Why are products like “Facial Treatment Essence” selling so well here?

After much hesitation, Li Wei finally placed an order for “Facial Treatment Essence”.

Countless bottles of this signature best - selling product from the luxury skincare brand SK - II are shipped from JD Beauty's self - operated warehouses across the country every day. They can reach users' doorsteps as soon as the same day and then be placed on the dressing table.

For brands like SK - II, the Chinese market is both a battleground and a challenging territory to defend. It has a large population of beauty and skincare consumers with strong purchasing power, but the market trends change rapidly. More importantly, many domestic beauty brands are trying to rewrite the rules of competition with their agile responses and “close - combat” marketing strategies.

Compared with other imported luxury brands, SK - II established its presence on JD Beauty early. In 2016, to expand its sales channels, SK - II opened a self - operated flagship store on JD.

Initially, JD Beauty was just a “peripheral” platform for SK - II. The turning point came in 2022: JD Beauty became SK - II's largest online sales channel in China and has maintained this position for three years, still contributing about 60% of the brand's sales revenue.

The key word behind this growth curve is not “explosive”, but “stable”.

Several e - commerce managers of beauty brands told 36Kr that JD Beauty is one of the few channels that can still bring stable incremental growth. In the current challenging industry environment, beauty brands value more whether they can obtain sustainable profits from the platform rather than the illusory bubbles left after traffic harvesting.

In the years when live - stream e - commerce rapidly emerged, the phenomenon of “impulsive ordering and rapid returns” was common. A top - tier influencer could drive hundreds of millions in sales, but the return rate of 40% - 50% often plunged brands into “false prosperity”. Different from other product categories, once beauty products are opened or tried, they cannot be resold, which means that a high return rate directly translates into real losses.

It is understood that SK - II's return rate on JD has been stable at around 9% for years. Even during peak sales periods like 618 and Double Eleven, the maximum return rate does not exceed 10%. This means that the sales revenue of JD Beauty is “cleaner” and of higher quality.

The low return rate is closely related to the high - quality user base. If you search for “SK - II” on the JD app, you will find that not only the star product “Facial Treatment Essence” but also many gift sets rank highly. Combinations of “Facial Treatment Essence” with products like the Red Cream, Clear Lotion, and “Lightening Essence” are expensive but have stable sales.

Behind this is JD PLUS members who meet the brand's expectations for its customer base.

According to the procurement and sales department of JD Beauty, on average, 4 out of every 10 consumers who buy SK - II products are JD PLUS members on normal days, and this proportion can soar to 70% during major promotional events. This means that SK - II not only gains sales revenue but also a group of loyal customers with high average order values, low return rates, and a willingness to pay for high - quality products in the long run.

On the other hand, “gifting” is an inevitable topic when it comes to beauty products on JD.

For luxury beauty brands, festivals are not only about sales competition but also about winning consumers' hearts. The idea of “giving luxury brands as gifts” has become a common perception, and the brand that becomes consumers' final choice wins this crucial battlefield.

This Qixi Festival, SK - II chose to launch its “Limited Edition Facial Treatment Essence Flower Bouquet Gift Box” exclusively on JD Beauty, taking advantage of its full - chain capabilities from warehousing and distribution to service.

Hundreds of thousands of gift boxes were transported to JD Beauty's self - operated warehouses across the country months in advance, ensuring that users don't have to wait for pre - orders and can receive the products immediately, with the fastest delivery on the same day. The founder of a domestic beauty brand commented, “This is JD Beauty's biggest advantage compared to other platforms.”

During the Qixi Festival, a peak gifting period, SK - II experienced a sales explosion on JD Beauty, with its sales revenue during the Super Brand Day increasing by 17 times year - on - year.

More importantly, JD Beauty respects the brand's sales achievements. The in - app search ranking is based entirely on indicators such as sales volume, user reviews, and repurchase rate, rather than on the exposure purchased through single - time advertising. The fact that “Facial Treatment Essence” has long ranked first on JD's facial essence list is the result of continuously “polishing” its search weight with sales revenue.

If we piece these fragments together: one end represents user quality and low return rates, the other end represents instant fulfillment and search compound interest; in the middle, the procurement and sales department connects brands with different scenarios, thus achieving a certain degree of certainty.

SK - II is just an example, and the same logic applies to other imported luxury brands such as La Mer and Lancôme. In the past few years, they have gradually regarded JD Beauty as an important platform for launching new products and creating best - sellers, and have achieved corresponding stable growth.

Finding a “Symbiotic Relationship”

For luxury beauty brands, JD Beauty means certainty; in the narrative of domestic and emerging brands, JD Beauty is more like an experimental field.

Different from the pursuit of “stable growth”, domestic and emerging brands need “verification”: verifying product potential, user profiles, scenario matching, and brand attractiveness.

Many industry insiders reported that the promotion of new products by domestic and emerging brands highly depends on advertising investment. Once the investment stops, sales are likely to decline immediately. User growth remains at the numerical level and is difficult to convert into repeat purchases and brand loyalty before the brand's reputation is fully established.

Despite having created six single products with annual sales exceeding 100 million yuan in three years with its clear ingredient list and positioning for sensitive skin, Fulijia still chose to cooperate deeply with JD to break free from the “best - seller dependency” and unlock more growth paths.

It's not easy to dig out the incremental growth of mature brands. As JD Beauty conducted a comprehensive review of Fulijia's product portfolio, two less - known products came into view.

One is the Desert Plant Moisturizing and Repairing Mask, which contains a compound extract of seven plants such as evening primrose root and sand verbena leaf, especially suitable for moisturizing during seasonal changes. The other is the Double - Peptide Soothing and Repairing Mask, which has an impressive real - user test report, can significantly repair the skin barrier, and has even won the “Achievement Award of the China Invention Association”. Similarly, the sales volume and popularity of both masks were not high.

Between reviving old best - sellers and simply clearing out inventory, JD Beauty chose the former.

Trusting in the product's quality, JD Beauty massively promoted the two masks in the “Buy One Get Multiple Free” campaign. This is an exclusive initiative pioneered by JD Beauty in the beauty industry: since 2024, when consumers buy beauty products on JD and the single - order amount reaches a certain level, they can freely choose a gift from the gift pool, including trial products such as masks, ampoules, and foundation samples, as well as high - value items like massage combs, beauty devices, and makeup mirrors.

Moreover, JD Beauty customized a “Grass - Rooting Mini Box” for Fulijia. QR codes were printed on the special paper boxes, which were then distributed in scenarios closely related to the brand, such as universities, China - South Korea flights, and star - rated hotels. By scanning the QR code, recipients can watch evaluation videos recorded by JD Beauty's procurement and sales team and learn scientific methods of choosing and applying masks.

After continuous offline targeted sampling and user engagement, in December 2024, the monthly sales of Fulijia's Desert Plant Repairing Mask exceeded 150,000 boxes, 30 times that of the brand's previous top - selling product. Even more astonishing, the two masks brought more than 300,000 new customers to Fulijia in one year, and the best - sellers were transformed into valuable customer assets.

Wang Xinlei, the e - commerce manager of Fulijia, told 36Kr that in the past, the brand had to allocate a large budget to a single best - seller, and its success largely depended on the timing of advertising investment and even luck. But on JD, user retention has become traceable and manageable. “We found that this is not a one - time business, but someone is helping us build a more solid foundation.”

For emerging brands, a single flash - in - the - pan success is not enough to build a brand. The product logic, price system, and user experience must be well - coordinated.

This truth is exemplified by the story of AFU. In the overall beauty market, facial oils were once considered a niche category. With special usage methods and a relatively high learning curve, the cost of educating consumers was relatively high, and the potential customer base was limited compared to traditional “toner, lotion, cream” products.

When operating on other e - commerce platforms, Xiaoyi, the CEO of AFU, found that although the brand's single products could easily achieve high sales through the platform's traffic support and strategic assistance, the concept of “beauty with facial oils” was difficult to penetrate.

For emerging brands, relying solely on a single best - seller is like building a tower on quicksand. Sales may soar temporarily, but it's difficult for the brand to truly take root. Anchoring a clear skincare trend can undoubtedly inject more certainty into the brand and help it make the crucial leap from “being noticed” to “being remembered”.

JD Beauty decided to help AFU promote the “beauty with facial oils” category. This was not an easy decision, as supporting a niche category is more challenging than supporting a single brand. It means not only promoting a product but also cultivating a concept, forming a habit, and even reshaping the skincare routines of Chinese consumers in an entire era.

But the result proved it was worth it: through in - depth cooperation in new product promotion, user refinement, and marketing, AFU's sales revenue on JD increased by 50% year - on - year in the past two years, and the number of users increased by nearly 60%. Its 11 - Seed Facial Oil has been selling well on the platform, with high user satisfaction and repurchase rates.

On JD, the relationship between brands and the platform is more like a “symbiotic relationship” - The platform provides systematic solutions on inventory management, price range setting, and customer expansion, and even takes on some risks for brands through the self - operated warehousing model. For emerging brands with limited funds, this “symbiotic relationship” means they can focus more on product R & D.

This relationship is best demonstrated in the “Ten - Fold Growth Plan”. According to the person in charge of JD Beauty's business in the Fashion Business Group of JD Retail, this initiative is different from regular promotions. It involves jointly selecting a growth period and pooling the most core, concentrated, and suitable resources. Brands offer discounted prices and attractive product assortments, while JD opens up core traffic entrances, designs customized marketing activities, and initiates precise customer operations. Both parties work with the greatest sincerity and efficiency to achieve the goals.

Since the launch of JD Beauty's “Ten - Fold Growth Plan” in 2024, more than 230 domestic and international brands have actively participated. Among them, 146 brands have achieved more than ten - fold growth in sales revenue, and the average growth rate of brands has exceeded 1400%.

This includes luxury beauty brands such as La Mer, whose single - day sales revenue increased by 2100% year - on - year, Armani Beauty with an 826% increase, and Estée Lauder with a 565% increase, as well as domestic and emerging brands like Proya with a 621% increase, Florasis with a 534% increase.