As China's economy and society continue to develop, the pursuit for ‘beauty’ as a quality of life is intensifying, giving rise to an expanding beauty market. Under this condition, as a major sector of this market, optical cosmetology featuring technological attributes is attracting more and more Chinese consumers.

In the Double Eleven Shopping Festival in 2022, two optical beauty Products from Yimei Group stood out: official figures show that QuasarMD ranked 1^st in the category of LED beauty instrument in Tmall, Tik Tok and Jingdong; while Hairmax reached No.1 in sales in instrument category for hair growth on the Tmall platform.

"It is a huge inspiration for us." James Knight, president of the Global Innovation Centre at Yimei Group, said, "The Chinese market is one of the most competitive in the world and there will always be another company ready to take market share. To remain a leader, innovation is the key."

Gathering strategic partners worldwide Building Yimei eco-chain with each strengths

It is our long-cherished wish to help people achieve a beautiful and healthy lifestyle, and it is our long-standing path to create innovative optical Products by pooling resources from all sides as a global platform for cooperation.

In terms of technology, Yimei acquired QuasarMD in 2018, a US brand founded in 2001, which has accumulated more than a decade of experience in optical beauty technology and has launched handheld photonic beauty devices before. To further enhance the portability of the Products, Yimei launched a wearable device in the form of a "mask" in China, based on chip technology, aiming at addressing the needs of "repair, rejuvenation and anti-ageing".

In addition, Yimei has also introduced Hairmax, a brand for laser hair therapy, to China, which was established over 22 years ago and is FDA approved. It uses LLLT (Low-level Laser Therapy) and hair-parting teeth technology，allowing the red light to work more effectively on the scalp and hair follicles.

However, manufacturing capability is essential for technology to be translated into Products, and Yimei is committed to lean manufacturing and standardization. To this end, Yimei partnered with Nikko-Seiki from Japan, who have a proud history of quality-manufacturing that spans over 62-years for big companies such as Panasonic. The joint venture established by the partnership——NINGBO YIMEI NIKKO-SEIKI MANUFACTURE CO., LTD, is Nikkei's only joint venture outside of Japan, which will bring advanced Production technology and methods to the core of Yimei brand, thus ensuring Products’ quality.

Yimei has also recruited senior talent internationally, including James Knight, president of the Global Innovation Centre, who has spent more than 18 years in medical cosmetology and has been involved in several M&A negotiations for international brands, and Sue D'Arcy, who is currently the Chief Clinical Scientist at Yimei, with over 15 years of clinical experience. She has also been involved in the publication of dozens of medical clinical papers on beauty and health.

According to the officials, Yimei has conducted dozens of clinical studies, including human efficacy tests and molecular mechanism tests, in collaboration with global medical teams, Chinese hospitals and third-party testing organizations. In November 2022, Yimei signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Innovation R&D Centre for Aging Science at the Yangtze Delta Region Institute of Tsinghua University, Zhejiang. The two parties will investigate the interaction between light therapy and efficacious skincare ingredients, as well as the key targets of their combined effects on skin tissue cells.

"By investing in R&D and clinical validation, Yimei has been able to gain high-quality insights that will be translated into innovative Products and business models." For James Knight, innovation is exciting，as it provides solutions to both known and unknown problems. At Yimei, innovation is not just about the Product, it is a holistic culture that is embraced and practiced from the top down. This culture of innovation is built by connecting different partners: the more subjects are connected, the larger the knowledge base, the broader the perspective, and the greater the possibility for innovation to be realised.

Deepening digital innovation Creating intelligent & data-driven Products

It is true that innovation cannot be achieved without the integration of R&D, technology, manufacturing, marketing, partnership and corporate culture, but it also requires Product development and improvement, which in turn should be guided by users' body data. James Knight argues that, beauty devices and health devices differ when it comes to the processing of data: the former provides solutions but little data can be obtained; the latter provides data but offers few solutions.

Therefore, the next business focus for Yimei is to connect solutions and data， creating intelligent and data-driven Products - after all, data is the most intuitive way to show the effectiveness of a solution. In the case of hair care, for example, the actual results may not be perceived by the user until some time has passed. But if the user can track progress through data, they can stick with the Product while retaining their expectations and thus get favorable results.

So far, Yimei has already partnered with a number of Chinese Grade-A tertiary hospitals and Chinese smart software companies to create an intelligent data system with parameters in multiple dimensions such as skin, hair, beauty and body metrics, which have been incorporated into the original Products through upgrading. Take Hairmax for example, according to official information, it is able to track hair volume, scalp health and hair cross-section in real time,and give users targeted solutions to their scalp problems.

Meanwhile, Yimei is developing a new optical sleep aid, Sleepmax. James points out that having a good night's sleep is an important foundation for beauty and health, "If you don't sleep well, then your skin, hair, mood and diet will all deteriorate, and a satisfying life will be impossible."

“There are many factors to blame for a poor sleep, but what lies in the heart is the circadian rhythm, or the human biological clock, which is regulated by temperature and light. So, we want to build a system in Sleepmax, combining optical, temperature and data processing capabilities. Although this Product is not easy to develop, the scientific logic behind it is smooth and we believe it will stand up to clinical validation.” James Knight said.

User-focused market education Unique innovation system fearless of imitation

When it comes to the competition, James Knight said that the optical segment of Chinese beauty market is still growing with much market education to be done. In this process, QuasarMD and Hairmax are two important channels for communicating new technologies and experiences to users.

For example, the home beauty device market in China, especially in the RF category, is more competitive, with a large number of brands and players in different price bands, ranging from low-end to high-end. In contrast, the development of photonic beauty devices is still in its infancy, with much room for growth for both the industry and the brands.

"There are still many people who don't know how our Products work, how to use them and how they really take effect, so we should engage ourselves more actively in interacting with them, collecting and analyzing their feedback. Market education cannot be promoted without the involvement of large amount of players, and we are glad to work hand in hand with them to innovate and to develop the market together." James added that Yimei is not worried about competitors copying its Products, because it has set a high bar through its own innovation system, which is steeped in years of clinical research and clinical data that cannot be easily imitated.

Apart from providing effective and safe Products to the market and users, Yimei is also committed to promoting standardisation and market regulation. In 2022, Yimei participated in the formulation of the Specification for the Application of Red Light-based Beauty Instruments in Skin Health Management, and also assisted in the drafting of the Group Standard for Household Photonic Beauty Instruments, thus setting a benchmark image in the industry.

“We will continue our passion for exploring great technologies that benefits our lives, and this will be explored in China and the US.” James said, “ The US is a global leader in the discovery of technologies, while the Chinese consumers are the quickest to adopt new technology. I believe this is a great balance into staying competitive and being a commercial success through the great willingness of Chinese consumers. We will create the exchange of these solutions from international success to China and China success to be exported Internationally.”

Forbes: https://www.forbeschina.com/business/63502