2026 First Half Efficacy Skincare Market Semi-Annual Report: 4 Key Changes in Sales Data, Best-Seller Logic, and Brand Landscape

The first half of the year is over—how is the efficacy skincare industry actually doing?

We cross-checked with several data sources—National Medical Products Administration announcements, Euromonitor International industry reports, public data from Douyin E-commerce and Tmall Beauty, combined with our Weptide client order data from the first half of this year. Here are some hard changes, neither hyping nor talking down, only presenting facts and data.

I. 4 Key Changes

1. Sales Data: 618 Slight YoY Growth, but Severe Internal Divergence

Let's start with the overall market.

• Tmall Beauty: 2026 618 full-cycle GMV +2.8% YoY (Source: Tmall official battle report)
• Douyin E-commerce Beauty: 618 full-cycle GMV +18.4% YoY (Source: Douyin E-commerce official battle report)
• JD Beauty: 618 full-cycle GMV +6.1% YoY

A few points worth noting:

• Platform divergence—Tmall/JD have stable fundamentals, Douyin is still grabbing incremental growth
• Average order value declining—Douyin Beauty's average order value dropped from 158 RMB in the same period last year to 127 RMB, no one can escape the price war
• Top brands' siphon effect intensifying—TOP10 brands took 38% market share, +4 percentage points YoY

What we see from our orders: Among brand clients inquiring about OEM cooperation, 40% are startups looking to launch from zero (testing with 30,000-150,000 RMB), 30% are established brands wanting to switch factories to cut costs (inventory replacement), and the remaining 30% are new product iterations driven by new ingredients and new processes. This ratio has changed significantly compared to last year—startups only accounted for 25% last year.

2. Ingredient Popularity: Recombinant Collagen Continues to Be Competitive, PDRN Unexpectedly Emerges

The hottest ingredient in the first half of the year, without a doubt, is recombinant collagen—whether it's Type III, Type XVII, or "recombinant humanized."

• The National Medical Products Administration approved 323 medical device products in June 2026 (Source: NMPA June 2026 announcement), of which 41 were recombinant collagen-related products—accounting for 12.7% of newly approved Class II medical devices
• On the Cosmetics Regulatory APP, new cosmetic filings containing "recombinant collagen" ingredients in the first half of 2026 exceeded 1,200 (Source: Cosmetics Regulatory APP data)

The unexpected standout is PDRN (polydeoxyribonucleotide, also known as the "salmon needle" ingredient)—

• Cosmetic-grade PDRN-related filed products grew 3.2x YoY in the first half of the year
• Prices dropped from 800-1,200 RMB/kg for raw material at the start of the year to the current 450-700 RMB/kg—the price war has already begun
• Lyophilized PDRN, PDRN single-dose ampoules, and PDRN masks are the three hottest formats

Our OEM-produced Shivei Landai lyophilized powder series saw PDRN-related inquiries increase 4x YoY this year—it's not that we're doing exceptionally well, it's that this ingredient is genuinely hot.

3. Channel Landscape: Beauty Salon Channel Makes a Comeback, Private Domain Is Hard to Launch

The most counterintuitive change in the first half is the return of the beauty salon channel.

• In 2024, skincare sales through the beauty salon channel declined 11% YoY (Source: China Beauty Expo Annual Report)
• In the first half of 2026, it stabilized and rebounded, with some regional markets +5% to +8% YoY
• The main driver is the "medical-device-grade + efficacy skincare" combination products—beauty salons are willing to promote them, and consumers are willing to pay

Corresponding changes:

• Weptide's OEM inquiries for cosmetic + medical device combination products accounted for 48% of total inquiries in the first half (only 27% in the same period last year)
• OEM inquiries for cosmetic-grade-only products declined YoY for the first time (-3.2%)
• OEM inquiries for medical-device-grade-only products slightly increased (+6.5%)

What this means—brands are shifting from "selling a product" to "selling a solution." The Shivei Landai mask + Yisheng Biotech lyophilized powder "cosmetic-grade + medical-device-grade" combination is particularly easy to promote in the beauty salon channel.

Private domain, on the other hand, is not easy—launch costs have risen from 150,000-250,000 RMB last year to 300,000-500,000 RMB this year. The main expense is content production and traffic acquisition, and small brands can no longer afford it.

4. Regulatory Changes: 78 New Regulations + Tightened Ingredient Catalog, the First Half Was Truly "Brutal"

The thing that troubled OEM factories and brands the most in the first half was regulations.

• From January to June 2026, the NMPA issued a total of 78 new regulations or draft proposals related to cosmetics/medical devices (Source: NMPA January-June 2026 announcement compilation)
• Covering the entire chain: ingredient management, labeling, registration/filing, production licensing, and supervision and inspection
• New ingredient filing changed from "file and use immediately" to "file + 3-year safety monitoring," and the application cycle for new ingredients extended from 6 months to 12-18 months

Actual impact on brands and OEM factories:

• The pace of new ingredient launches was disrupted—of the 30+ new ingredient projects reserved last year, fewer than 10 could be brought to market in the first half of this year
• Formula iteration costs rose—every ingredient adjustment involves stability testing, filing changes, and label updates
• OEM service capability stratification intensified—OEM factories with proprietary formula libraries + CMA/CNAS testing capabilities + NMPA resources captured more orders

II. Several Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Pitfall 1: Blindly following the recombinant collagen trend—Seeing recombinant collagen's popularity in the first half, a bunch of brands immediately said "I want to make recombinant collagen"—the problem is recombinant collagen comes in Type I/Type III/Type XVII/human-like collagen, with different molecular weights for different applications, and 90% of those who jump in without understanding this will fail.

Pitfall 2: PDRN price war—The raw material dropping to 450 RMB/kg doesn't mean your product should be priced that way either. PDRN's activity retention, transdermal absorption, and stability are the real technical barriers, not the raw material itself.

Pitfall 3: Betting on a single channel—The beauty salon channel's comeback in the first half doesn't mean you can go all-in on beauty salons; you still need to defend your Douyin and Tmall fundamentals.

Pitfall 4: Ignoring regulations—The 78 new regulations aren't "just something to read," they directly impact product launch timelines. Brands and OEM factories must make regulatory tracking a daily routine, not wait until problems arise to fix them.

III. Our Response in the First Half

Here are some actual things we did:

• In June, we launched a PDRN version of Shivei Landai's lyophilized powder series—retaining the original formula structure, adding PDRN as an active ingredient, and completed 3 months of accelerated stability testing
• Assisted 2 OEM clients in completing filings for cosmetic + medical device combination products—leveraging the dual qualifications of Yisheng Biotech + Guangzhou Weptide
• Obtained 3 Class II medical device registration certificates in July—2 for Yisheng Biotech (recombinant collagen + mussel adhesive protein), 1 for Guangzhou Weptide
• Provided ODM small-batch services for startup brands—minimum order of 100 units, 35-day delivery, so small brands can also get started

IV. 3 Predictions for the Second Half

1. Recombinant collagen prices will drop another tier—capacity release + more players entering, raw material prices may fall below 300 RMB/kg in Q3
2. PDRN will enter a "formula is king" phase—selling PDRN raw material alone has no differentiation; the competition will be in formula design, transdermal technology, and stability
3. Medical-device-grade + cosmetic-grade dual-track will become the standard for new brands—products with a single qualification will become increasingly difficult to promote in the beauty salon channel

The efficacy skincare industry—it's not that you can't do it, it's that you have to do it with precision. Brands that survived the first half will most likely survive the second half. Those that didn't survive the first half—the problem lies with themselves, not the market.

Shivei Landai reminds you: When choosing an OEM factory, look at qualifications, capabilities, and service—don't just look at price. A factory with 14 years of OEM experience and a factory that just entered the industry 3 years ago produce completely different results. Weptide Group: Dual qualifications in cosmetic-grade and medical-device-grade, CMA/CNAS dual certification, proprietary formula library of 80+, 4 production bases, 14 years focused on efficacy skincare OEM. Brand partners are welcome to visit our factories for on-site inspection.