Creative cosmetic packaging design

Simplified packaging design style is a design direction recognized by young people and modern culture. It is necessary to conceive creative design ideas as a whole to create a simplified and creative packaging design vision.

Do you have lipstick or facial mask? I believe 90% of people will answer: YES.

Nowadays, in the economic age of beauty, cosmetics have long become fashionable and daily necessities in people's daily life. It can be seen that the change in people's understanding of cosmetics has promoted the rapid rise of China's cosmetics consumption and brought the cosmetics market into a golden period of development.

The beauty industry develops rapidly

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, from 2012 to 2018, the overall retail sales of cosmetics in China maintained a steady growth trend. In 2018, the national retail sales of cosmetics units above designated size was 261.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.6%, which was 0.6 percentage points higher than the growth rate of my country's total retail sales of consumer goods in 2018.



In the first quarter of 2019, the national retail sales of cosmetics was 75.3 billion yuan, an increase of 10.9% compared with the same period in 2018. In terms of growth rate, from January to March 2019, the national retail sales of cosmetics increased by 10.9% year-on-year, which was 2.6 percentage points higher than the growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods in the same period.

Analysts pointed out that China has now become the world's second largest cosmetics market, and major cosmetics companies are showing their magic in this field. Compared with foreign brands, local cosmetics brands are constantly emerging through rapid product iteration and cross-industry cooperation. From the perspective of the stock market, there are already three local listed cosmetics companies in Shanghai Jahwa, Proya and Yujiahui on the A-share market.

Color box market takes advantage of Dongfeng

At present, cosmetic packaging is classified according to materials, mainly plastic, glass, paper, and metal. Among them, the color box in paper is the packaging with more usage after plastic and glass. The rapid development of cosmetics has caused the sales of color boxes to continue to rise due to this shareholder trend. Take Proya, one of the three major local brands, as an example to see the development trend of color boxes.

In the first half of 2017, Proya achieved revenue of 834 million yuan, and the purchase amount of packaging materials was 188 million yuan. The latter accounted for 22.52% of the former. In 2018, it recorded an operating income of 2.361 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 32.43%.



From the above table, it can be understood that Proya's purchases of color boxes from 2014 to the first half of 2017 were 38,575,400 yuan, 46,621,500 yuan, 46,762,800 yuan, and 25,420,900 yuan respectively. It can be seen that Proya's use of color boxes has been increasing every year in recent years.

Seeing this, I believe the color box suppliers should have a hint of joy, in fact, Proya is only one of the local brands, and there are more local and foreign brands that will increase the demand for color boxes as the market share increases. Increasing year by year, such as Shanghai Jahwa, Yujiahui, Estee Lauder, Lancome, L'Oreal Paris, Yue Sai, Givenchy, Shiseido and other companies.

Popular items and emerging blue ocean

The loyal red lips born after 70 to 95

Elizabeth Taylor said: 'Pour yourself a glass of wine, and then put on lipstick, everything will be fine.'

Chinese women have now felt the true meaning of this sentence, which made the lipstick single product hot.



According to the 'Tmall Economic Report on Beauty Value in 2019', Chinese cosmetics consumers buy 3.3 lipsticks on Tmall each year on average. Post-70s to post-95s all like to buy lipsticks, but post-80s are most willing to pay for lipsticks. On average, they buy the most lipsticks on Tmall every year. The MAC of the Estée Lauder Group is the hottest item on Tmall. At its Q3 analyst meeting in fiscal year 2018, the Estee Lauder Group once stated that “MAC can sell almost 180,000 pieces of a hot lipstick on Tmall”.

Nowadays, with the help of e-commerce platform, many brands can cover all cities in China without opening stores offline. Such as the exploding consumption power of fourth- and fifth-tier cities, this is a consumer group that has never been imagined before. Imagine a lipstick and a color box, and each person buys 3.3 lipsticks on Tmall every year on average. This is only the data of Tmall. If you add data from other platforms, can you imagine the future of the color box?

Expanding demand for cleansing masks

In recent years, the Chinese facial mask market has maintained a higher growth rate than the Japanese and Korean markets. The facial mask market accounts for approximately 48% of the global facial mask market, making it the world's largest facial mask market. According to Euromonitor, the market size of China's facial mask industry reached US$3 billion in 2017, or approximately RMB 20.75 billion, an increase of 14.8% compared to 2016. In 2018, the total retail sales of the facial mask market in China reached 59.297 billion yuan, and facial mask products accounted for 16.4% of the market share of skin care products. The year-on-year growth of facial masks proves that it has become an increasingly active category in the skin care product market.

At present, brands in the facial mask market are constantly introducing new ones. Many up-and-coming stars such as Yiyeye, Meiji, and the Mask Method Family have appeared in the facial mask market. The rapid rise of emerging local facial mask brands has led to increasingly fierce competition for facial mask brands. The competition pattern of the domestic facial mask market is mainly based on domestic facial mask brands (Yiyeoli, Proya, Herborist, etc.) and international facial mask brands (SNP, Mediwell, Hadabisei, SK-II, etc.).

With the development of society, environmental pollution has become more and more serious, and the problem of skin aging has accelerated, resulting in an increasing frequency of use of facial masks. According to Mintel’s latest research 'Face Mask-China 2018', as consumers’ awareness of anti-pollution increases, the market’s demand for cleansing masks has increased. Mintel’s data shows that about one-third (32%) of The interviewed consumers are most worried about pollution. Therefore, the combination of anti-pollution effect and cleaning function can be described as an alternative solution that touches Chinese consumers-emphasizing that products can not only thoroughly clean dust and haze, but also protect the skin from pollution hazards for a long time. However, most anti-pollution products are currently overseas brands, and local brands still need to work hard on cleansing facial masks.

Emerging blue ocean-men's cosmetics

Some people say that men who understand skin care and make-up are not enough to be manly. However, compared with those sloppy men, managing the face is not only a way of respecting others, but also a way to increase self-confidence. Currently on social media, many netizens leave messages on the topic of men's makeup: 'Boys should be more refined' and 'Everyone has a heart for beauty.' It seems that people have accepted the attitude of men's makeup.

According to a report by Tmall New Product Innovation Center, as an emerging blue ocean market, the men's online grooming market has exploded rapidly, with a growth rate of over 50% for two consecutive years. The number of grooming products used by men continues to increase, brand selection is becoming more and more high-end, and men's professional brands are more favored. Men pay more attention to 'face engineering', they start to use lipstick, eyebrow pencil, essence, sunscreen, facial mask and make-up. Compared with facial skin care, body wash, perfume, head wash and oral care, the growth rate of men's makeup is the fastest year-on-year growth rate of 89%.

The year-on-year growth of men's exclusive brands reached 56%, and cosmetics companies have developed men's exclusive care products for male consumers. It is reported that there is not much difference between male consumers’ understanding of skin care ingredients and female consumers. In terms of collagen, 68% of male consumers and 72% of female consumers said they have heard of or bought related products. And men also pay more attention to essential oil ingredients. 55% of male consumers have bought or heard of essential oils, which is higher than that of female consumers (52%).

Significant growth in consumption of high-end products

In recent years, consumption upgrades have accelerated the growth of high-end cosmetics consumption in my country, and the proportion of high-end cosmetics consumption in all cosmetics consumption has gradually increased. From 2013 to 2017, the proportion of high-end cosmetics consumption in my country rose from 21.35% to 26.08%, while the proportion of mass product consumption dropped from 78.65% to 73.92%. According to Euromonitor data, my country's high-end cosmetics market is mainly international brands, and the top five popular cosmetics are Shanghai Shangmei and Pechoin on the list.

At present, consumers' requirements for products are no longer just 'inexpensive', but value 'good quality'. Changes in consumption habits also provide a direction for brand upgrades. Major brands have begun to build brand 'hard power', develop high-end products, and strengthen brand competitiveness.

According to industry insiders, it is currently difficult for local cosmetics to enter the high-end market, mainly due to factors such as technology, environment, and consumer philosophy. Domestic brands lack core competitiveness, and the technological innovation of cosmetics, such as cell culture and anti-aging technologies and concepts, is in a leading position with foreign capital. Local enterprises must extract their own unique cultural symbols from historical inheritance. Only by continuously promoting the technological capabilities of enterprises, improving their investment capabilities, and enhancing marketing techniques, can the spring of domestic high-end cosmetics come soon.

In addition, high-end cosmetics require more and more innovative color box packaging, so that their products can be differentiated through packaging in sales. With the increasing market demand for exquisite color packaging, the importance of the color packaging carton industry has increased day by day.

The future of color boxes

How to make a brand stand out in the fierce market competition and win the favor of consumers. Some people say it is product quality, some say it is marketing strategy, and some say it is packaging design. Yes, these three aspects are very important, but for the cosmetics industry, packaging design has a more strategic position. For this reason, understanding the future design direction of the color box is crucial to the promotion of the brand.

Novel personality

There are more and more homogeneous products in the cosmetics market, which has led consumers to pay more and more attention to product packaging. Unique and innovative packaging will increase the product's influence on consumers.

From the perspective of packaging color, it has been better to see from the past that only the pursuit of color is now determined according to the purchase group of the product. Different colors represent different styles between brands. Pechoin herbal products are mainly based on the concept of herbal skin care, and the packaging color is green. Han Shuhong's capsule set chose red. Han Shu's use of color is self-evident. He wants to make skin care products that can represent Chinese characteristics, and it also implies that it will be prosperous in the future. And male cosmetics generally use steady colors to reflect a kind of square masculinity.

Customization

I don't know when, festival limited edition products are deeply loved by consumers. People give gift boxes of limited editions as gifts to others, or buy them to treat themselves. When consumers increasingly pursue a sense of festive rituals, brands also need to respond quickly to changes in consumers.



On the eve of Valentine's Day in 2019, Valentine's Day limited products from brands such as YSL Beauty and Lancome were sold out soon after being put on the Tmall flagship store; Limited lipstick gift boxes from Givenchy Beauty, Armani Beauty, M?A?C and other brands , Is also very popular in offline outlets such as brand counters. In addition, Yue Sai has tried to launch Chinese limited products four years ago, which has become a long-term communication plan for the brand to communicate with the local Chinese market.

When consumers’ demand for cosmetics is no longer limited to basic product functions, but the pursuit of inner satisfaction; when “limited cosmetics gift boxes” become the first choice for more and more couples and friends to give gifts. Tao will inevitably become more and more lively.

Sense of experience

Natural and hand-feel packaging is becoming a trend. When designing the carton, try to choose the special effect paper with good contact experience. At present, special effect paper includes plant parchment, embossed paper, and patterned paper?. Among them, patterned paper includes mesh paper, antique effect paper, adulterated and special effect paper, non-coated patterned paper, Ganggu paper, 'condensed' pearl patterned paper, 'Xingcai' metallic patterned paper, and gold paper. Different effects can meet the different promotion themes of the brand. In addition, the face of busy life has increased the frequency of business trips, and easy-to-carry cosmetics are also deeply loved by white-collar ladies.

Cosmetic packaging is a kind of packaging that consumers will pick up and experience when they use the product. The contact experience is more important to consumers than the packaging that is discarded immediately after opening.

Concise

Now the packaging is becoming more and more minimalist, and the fonts of products and packaging rarely use fancy designs. Turning the complex into simple, on the contrary, makes the logo more prominent, which is more conducive to product promotion. For example, the clever application of black, white and gray colors can give people a sense of stability and high-end quality. In addition, packaging must have deeper cultural connotations. Appropriately incorporating traditional culture into packaging design will give packaging design more style and characteristics.



Intelligent

In the evolution of cosmetic packaging, smart packaging has become increasingly important. Some brands will conceptually give the product packaging a sense of technology to enhance the technical taste of the product. Cosmetics merchants can use QR codes and Near Field Communication Technology (NFC) to print more information on products and track packaging throughout the entire cycle, making it easier for consumers to obtain product information and conduct interactive activities.

In addition, AR technology is also used by major brands to improve user experience, stimulate product sales, and enhance the interest and interactivity of products. Smart packaging acts as an interface between consumers and products, and further information about the origin and sustainability of the product can be learned through the video, which enhances the approach to reality.

Sustainability

As consumers' environmental awareness increases year by year, sustainable packaging has become the mainstream. Brands should strive to reduce redundant packaging and ensure that the packaging is as sustainable and recyclable as possible. For example, the structural design of each box reduces the use of packaging materials, so as to win more customers.

For example, the RFID tags developed and launched by Stora Enso Smart Packaging are made of 100% wood fiber paper. Compared with traditional plastic tags, the former can bring a lower carbon footprint to B2B companies that focus on sustainable development.

With the rapid and continuous growth of China's economy, China has become the world's most potential cosmetics market. At the same time, under the trend of consumption upgrade, the future development prospects of China's cosmetics industry are promising. If local cosmetics companies can strengthen their packaging design in addition to enhancing brand power and clear product positioning, they will achieve both market share and profit increases.