Huaqiangbei’s transformation into beauty is a new way for bosses to make money in recent years. However, this "Tao" has now begun to decline. Recently, Sina Finance went to the "Mingtong Market" with the loudest sign on Huaqiang North America Cosmetics Street and found that most of the counters had been vacated. Bosses, where have they gone? Why did Huaqiangbei’s beauty track fail?


The bosses left in a “group”

Many people have never heard of Mingtong Building. According to data, it was once the most professional and largest imported cosmetics wholesale market in China, and its prosperity is evident.

Nowadays, almost only the first floor is open for business. More than half of the counters on the second, third, fourth and fifth floors have been evacuated. Information about the transfer of counters is not uncommon.

It is understood that the products on the first floor are general trade versions, while the products on the upper floor are mostly duty-free versions. Almost all of these products have switched to online express delivery, supplemented by self-pickup in the same city.




A coffee shop operator near Mingtong Building told Sina Finance that since the beginning of this year, these beauty merchants have gradually withdrawn from Huaqiangbei.

On Xiaohongshu, many people in the industry talked about the reasons for the withdrawal of Huaqiang North America Cosmetics merchants. A user named "Xiao Xiaoqi-Huaqiang North America Cosmetics" shared that starting from February this year, Mingtong stall owners have gradually moved to Sheung Shui Plaza in Hong Kong. It is a "paradise" for purchasing agents and is also the easiest place to reach from all ports.

With the full relaxation of the epidemic, Sheung Shui Plaza has made a strong comeback. Starting from February this year, some bosses went to the store in advance to find stalls and warehouses. In the following months, people started to go there one after another. Most of them were bosses who had a good relationship with each other in Mingtong and formed a group to support each other.

In her opinion, the "escape" from Huaqiangbei is due to the sluggish market and increased subsidies from e-commerce platforms, which has also resulted in the current overall market shipments being reduced by at least 200% compared to the past.

"Now the bosses are sitting together drinking tea, and they are no longer talking about how much money they made from this batch of goods two years ago, but how much money they lost." She bluntly said that most of the stalls operating today are "resting on their laurels", and fewer and fewer novices are entering the market.

“Everyone thinks that the market this year will be better than last year, but the fact is that the market is still difficult.”

As we all know, Huaqiang North America Cosmetics has had a glorious past. In 2017, Mingtong Electronics Building transformed into a cosmetics business, and digital malls such as Yuanwang and Manhattan Plaza followed suit, driving a large number of people who were originally engaged in parallel import mobile phone business to enter the beauty cosmetics industry. They took advantage of Huaqiangbei's supply chain advantages and operating model to lower the price to half of the products on the market. Businessmen from all over the country subsequently moved in and even opened brand image stores.



According to Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, the beauty street in Huaqiangbei emerged because it serves as a distribution center for electronic goods in Shenzhen and even across the country, attracting a large number of consumers and merchants. Although its electronics market has declined since then, Huaqiangbei's geographical advantages are still obvious. It has a complete supply chain and logistics system, and also has advantages such as lower rent and labor costs. In addition, the US import trade can still use Shenzhen as the base point. This is the reason for the rise of Huaqiang North Cosmetics.

Nowadays, the frequent withdrawals of counters are related to fierce market competition, rising rents, and changes in consumer buying habits. "The rise of Huaqiangbei is a reflection of the consumer culture and economy of the year. However, after the impact of the epidemic, more and more consumers have become accustomed to Internet e-commerce shopping, which has a great impact on the offline market." Therefore, he said that the arrival and removal of counters are due to market supply demand.

The store said there are a large number of fakes in the market, and the channel dealers are worried

Nowadays, not only are there fewer and fewer players, but the previously loud signs of "Huaqiangbei" and "Mingtong" have become increasingly difficult to use.

On December 28, 2020, CCTV Finance reported a cross-border e-commerce platform smuggling case involving Huaqiang North American cosmetics involving a total amount of 600 million. In this case, many beauty stalls in shopping malls such as Mingtong and Manha in the Huaqiangbei business district falsely declared goods imported through general trade as cross-border e-commerce retail imports. At that time, thousands of Mingtong beauty stores were closed and exposed to public view.


A user "Fuqi Beauty Entrepreneurship Theory" who claims to have been doing beauty in Huaqiangbei for three years and has gone from being a backpacker to a stall owner said that today, there are still a large number of high imitations and fakes in cosmetics in Huaqiangbei.

“At the beginning of the rise of Huaqiang North American Cosmetics, there were many people who wanted to squeeze in to open a stall, and the financial threshold for this business was very high. It cost three to five million to open a stall. The supervision of the stall was also in place. Many big bosses ordered goods from South Korea, Europe, Russia and other places to Hong Kong. Every stall owner They all boycotted fakes for fear of losing customers. "

But by the beginning of 2021, the Mingtong brand was too ostentatious, and coupled with various revelations on the Internet, in just over half a year, few people in the market were willing to open a stall, and everyone also realized that it was tiring to make money in this business.

“At this time, some people quit the stalls, got into trouble outside the market, and began to mix genuine and fake products, especially for shipping customers. By 2022, the market will have Half of the stalls have been withdrawn. ”

Among the merchants who have withdrawn their stalls, some feel that the market is too difficult to survive, and some have accumulated enough customers. Since then, more and more merchants have begun to mix genuine and fake products, which is more profitable and difficult for customers to distinguish. "In today's market, most stall owners have never been in the beauty business before. They have never even been to Korea, and they do not understand the processes and products of Korea Free."

And after making money from fake products, fewer and fewer merchants are willing to sell genuine products. "Fuqi Beauty Entrepreneurship Theory" said that to this day, even if there are stalls open in the market, there is a high possibility of mixing fake products.

Someone said bluntly in the comment area on the social platform, "This year is particularly exaggerated. I have never seen so many fakes circulating in the market. The quality of the fakes is so high that even beauty apps can't identify them. Not to mention consumers, even our sellers have accidentally stepped on them."

Some people also said bluntly, " Now when I heard from Mingtong, I just refused to cooperate."


Jiang Han added that it is relatively common for Huaqiang North American cosmetics to be mixed with genuine and fake products, and this has also been questioned by the outside world as one of the sources of China's fake cosmetics market. The purchase channel of Huaqiang North American Cosmetics is mainly the general trade channel, that is, import through formal customs declaration.

Theoretically speaking, unilateral import or unilateral export trade by enterprises with import and export rights in China, and goods imported and exported according to the general trade transaction method, are general trade goods. However, in this path, it is easy for some criminals to import fake goods through informal channels, pass them off as good, and sneak into the market.

The market will rise and fall with the economic situation like a tide. Jiang Han said that with the rapid development of China's economy, consumers' demand for cosmetics is also increasing. At the same time, the requirements for quality are also getting higher and higher. They pay more attention to safety and environmental protection, and the demand for personalized and customized products is also increasing.

In addition, policies are constantly changing. Some countries have become more and more strict in regulating cosmetics, with clear requirements for ingredients, packaging, labeling, etc. These are the reasons why Huaqiang North America Cosmetics can no longer capture the hearts of consumers.

Judging from the current situation, Huaqiangbei has once again failed in the beauty industry after the rise and decline of electronic products. However, with its excellent geographical location and traffic flow, Huaqiangbei may introduce new tracks in the future. However, if there is still a situation of shoddy products and difficulty in distinguishing true from false, the future of Huaqiangbei will still be difficult to judge.

Text｜Sina Finance Yuan Yiming