Medical beauty, chaos.

China's medical and beauty market, which is neither medical nor makeup, is like a giant deformed child suffering from all industrial diseases such as medical care, beauty makeup and even Internet advertising. Each of its pores can be summarized as "chaos"-A parallel imports are rampant in the upstream raw material market; illegal practices of medical and beauty institutions in the middle reaches, leasing qualifications, and over-indication drugs; downstream channel merchants "dare to brag about everything", and marketers are flying false advertisements.

The medical and beauty institutions, as the realization entrance of the whole industrial chain, directly facing consumers, is the most important link in the whole industrial chain, is also the concentrated outbreak of medical beauty chaos, and is the biggest, most painful and most conspicuous focus of this deformed child.

Another symbiotic word for chaos is profiteering. However, since the end of 2018, medical and beauty institutions have ushered in a wave of closure, and even many people in the industry believe that medical beauty has entered a "recession".

The plastic surgery department of public hospitals and large chain medical and beauty groups have a relatively easy life, but for the small and medium-sized private institutions that account for 75% of the formal market, the brand effect and capital appeal are not as good as the former two, and the bargaining power of raw materials is not high. the cost of obtaining customers has increased sharply, the market supply exceeds demand, the homogenization competition is fierce, and the living environment is getting worse and worse.

According to Tianyan survey data, 2030 of the newly established medical and beauty enterprises between June 2020 and June 2021 have been cancelled.

To make matters worse, the use of fake and shoddy equipment, unlicensed and unqualified, or even supervision can not catch the "current" informal institutions are still rampant. According to CCTV market research statistics, the market size of domestic formal medical institutions is about 87.8 billion yuan, while the size of the black market is about 136.7 billion yuan.

The market of medical institutions is full of blood, and the fight is raging.

Ice and fire: the track is worth trillions, but it is difficult for medical institutions to make a profit

The bright future of the medical beauty market always begins with "the penetration rate of medical beauty in China is much lower than that in the United States, Brazil, Japan and South Korea".

Over the past decade, the penetration rate of medical beauty in China has risen from 1.5% to 3.6%, but it is far worse than that of the world's largest medical countries-- about 1 beat 3 in Japan, 5 in the United States, and 6 in South Korea.

This seems to be a market with unlimited potential and unmet demand-the current market size is 200 billion, with a penetration rate of 600 billion yuan to catch up with Japan, and a trillion market to catch up with the United States.

In the eyes of many people, Meimei is indeed "profitable". The ex-factory price of hyaluronic acid, which costs more than ten yuan, is several hundred yuan, and the net profit is more than ten times. When it comes to the end consumers, it becomes thousands or tens of thousands of yuan.

Breast implants with breast implants cost tens of thousands of dollars. If you think about it, what is the value of two blocks of silicone?

Profiteering, or imagined profiteering, attracts all kinds of industries and all kinds of capital to share a cup of money. After the three giants of raw materials gathered together in A-shares, the cumulative market capitalization exceeded 100 billion, and a number of real estate developers, traditional Chinese medicine enterprises and clothing brands entered the market with a high profile. Baidu, Inc., Meituan, BABA and JD.com all have medical and American business plates, and the vertical medical and aesthetic platforms are even more popular.

In May this year, at the annual performance presentation meeting of the real estate company Aoyuan Meigu six months after the transformation of medical beauty, its president Hu ran said, "do not underestimate the determination of real estate developers to enter the medical and beauty industry." "

On the other hand, the hot side of the track is the medical and beauty institutions that serve as the realization entrance of the entire industrial chain and directly face consumers. Life is becoming more and more difficult.

A practitioner analyzed eight points of good news:"the whole industry, so many chains, the outside world seems to be a whole, in fact, those in the industry all know, profits are all upstream, in the channel …... The growth rate of medical and beauty institutions is faster than the development speed of audience demand.

Eight good News learned from a number of channel hospitals that 50% to 80% of the income of these channel medical institutions went to downstream channels such as beauty salons, bars, and KTV. "the little brother in the bar, by pushing our little sister to make breasts, nose and eyes, soon drove a Mercedes-Benz." If you don't give it, someone will give it.

The life of hospitals and clinics in offline channels is becoming more and more "difficult". "people in the marketing department, pulling customers like wolves," a channel hospital marketing staff told eight o'clock good news that in this hospital with less than 400 people, there are more than 300 marketing staff, and the entire marketing department can share 13% of the income.

"it seems that the running water is very high, but in fact, the dean does not make money." 50% goes to the channel, 20% to the marketing department, and the remaining 30% has to cover rent, doctors, money consumption and other expenses. Due to the shortage of high-quality doctors in the market and great competition, the investment of plastic surgeons is also a large expense for hospitals.

Shi Jiyong, a former senior manager in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, told eight good news that "doctors in 1-5 years are practicing doctors, with an average salary of 20-50, 000, 8-10 years' attending doctors are basically 8-120000, and 15-20 sub-high-level doctors are all about 15-180000." Monthly salary ".

The situation is still changing in a more difficult direction. "the young sisters are all on the Internet, and the clients brought in by the owner of the beauty parlor are all older and have a poor foundation, so they are not suitable for medical and beauty projects."

Direct-guest hospitals that embrace the Internet are also on the inside. The operation-to-production ratio can reach 1 / 6 by 2017-spend 1 million on advertising and eventually get a profit of 6 million. Nowadays, it is almost common for many medical and beauty institutions to contribute more than half of their income to Internet medical and beauty platform marketing.

The fierce competition makes the hospital have to take the road of small profits and quick turnover, the marketing department and marketing personnel are crazy to solicit customers, and the doctors who are tool people in the background can only follow.

"the right to speak lies with the director of the operation and consultation, and the doctor is only responsible for the operation with the money. "doctors are not gods. If you work long hours and work long hours, the risk of accidents will increase." but there is no way. The salary is high.

"our principle is that people will not die, and if there is a dispute, the dean will deal with it." in the event of a dispute, "it can be paid or repaired free of charge, as long as it cannot be spread out."-- the high cost of handling disputes has almost become part of the cost of medical institutions.

The sudden epidemic has brought a greater impact on medical and beauty institutions. "compared with last year, large head institutions have only achieved revenue balance, and the performance of a large number of small and medium-sized institutions has shrunk by 10 to 20 percent or more," So-young International Inc founder Jinxing said at an award ceremony. "

"there is no epidemic, and the medical and beauty market has reached a turning point." after returning to work, although the high growth rate of the medical and beauty market is expected to return to high levels, a number of practitioners of medical and beauty institutions have told eight-point Jianyin that they will not live better in 2021, only harder.

From the blue sea to the blood sea

One senior practitioner recalls that this was not the case at all until 2016. At that time, the medical and beauty market was in short supply, the industry information was not transparent, and "customers begged doctors for surgery."

The income of the "direct customer hospitals" distributed all over the country is very considerable after a little marketing and advertising. "Channel Hospital" is not bad, accumulated "high-quality high-end consumers" beauty salon, KTV, bar, foot washing City and other life beauty institutions for them to send a steady stream of customers.

At that time, even if it was distributed to the downstream life beauty institutions with 20% to 30% profits, the channel hospital could still make a lot of money.

Many practitioners still recall the prosperity of that year, "if they could not make money at that time, they would be embarrassed to say that they were living in the medical circle."

In retrospect, several events in 2016 did sow the seeds for subsequent changes in the medical and beauty market.

In 2016, China's medical and beauty industry suddenly became a tuyere, with A-share companies such as Lang Zi and SUNING coming in on a large scale of mergers and acquisitions. Lang Zi acquired Milan Baiyu and Jingfu brands at a valuation of 500 million, making it the most expensive merger in the history of a Chinese medical and beauty institution.

In the same year, when the Wei Zexi incident occurred, the mode of cooperation between Baidu, Inc. and Putian began to be affected.

Also in the same year, So-young International Inc began to set up a diary review team, completed the C round of investment, and the Internet channels that specialize in medical beauty also began to mature.

In the tuyere, in the course of singing and dancing, few people realize that the supply and demand of the whole market has quietly changed. A research report by Gong Wei, editor-in-chief of Meiye Watch, pointed out that since 2015, "Chinese medical beauty seems to have entered a state where supply exceeds demand." "

The change in the market was reflected at the end of the year. According to an industry insider, in 2016, only in Hangzhou, the performance of Pu Medical Beauty almost halved-despite "over-marketing", Pu Medical and Beauty institutions were still a regular force among the mixed medical institutions at that time.

As a result, over the past year, in 2017, the wind changed suddenly, the capital stopped the pace of entering the medical beauty market, the growth rate of the medical beauty market itself also significantly slowed down, and many people in the industry "obviously felt that the market could not rise."

The declining performance has given rise to a sense of crisis in every medical and beauty institution, and the balance in the past has been broken. "between organizations, they began to rob doctors and customers, and the relationship between supply and demand has been reversed-doctors are begging customers for surgery." and it's getting worse.

In 2017, an industry observer with the pseudonym Meiya wrote in China Medical and Beauty magazine: "before 2016, everyone (Putian Department of Hangzhou) tacitly adhered to a price tacit understanding. At that time, although the price war had been raging in the nearby Shanghai medical beauty market, in regional centers like Hangzhou, everyone was still doing their own things and at peace with each other. "however, after the Baidu, Inc. and Wei Zexi incident, Hangzhou Pu Medical and Beauty performance stood in the way, and the performance pressure broke the delicate price alliance before." the vigorous low-price war was finally staged in Hangzhou. "

Venus, founder of So-young International Inc, said publicly in 2018 that medical institutions were losing money on a large scale and only 30 per cent of them were profitable. Yang Xiaojiao, commercial director of Gengmei, said in an interview with Entrepreneurship, "in 2018, medical and beauty institutions had an elimination rate of 10% to 20%, and the turnover rate increased by about 30%."

Medical beauty volume: after the price war, there is a lot of mourning.

Medical beauty has entered the internal volume era, the first manifestation of the price war, the price war can be fought for two reasons: first, the technical barriers are not high, so that the projects of various hospitals are very similar; second, the number of institutions is large, for example, a practitioner: in 2016, Hangzhou, with a female population of no more than 5 million, has nearly 900medical and beauty-related enterprises.

Price war is the regular way for the industry to reshuffle. But for the medical and beauty industry, the biggest variable comes from the Internet.

At the beginning of the establishment of the Internet medical and beauty platform, all under the banner of increasing the transparency of the industry and eliminating information asymmetry. They present the reputation of doctors and the price of the project naked to consumers, and they do break down the information barriers between institutions and consumers, benefiting consumers and direct-guest hospitals that suffer from lack of ready-made channels, which begin to embrace the Internet. Medical institutions and Internet platforms quickly enter the honeymoon period.

However, the good times will not last long, when the Internet platforms gather a large number of users, the enclosure is completed, and the cash begins, the game becomes a competitive bidding for advertising space. In 2017, So-young International Inc, a four-year-old vertical app of Medical Beauty, earned more information services than scheduled services for the first time, and its main business turned to marketing.

"originally, everyone has their own habitat," but when a large number of users gather on the Internet platform, the battlefield shifts to the Internet. A person in the industry introduced the impact of the Internet on medical beauty.

Customers on the Internet, medical institutions want to get customers, they must pay to the platform to buy services, in order to improve the conversion rate, they have to spend more money to buy the most popular keywords, the most conspicuous advertising space-- when doctors'IP are glittering in packaging, and institutions are shouting low-price promotions at a loss, consumers think that the most conspicuous advertisement is the better the doctor's reputation is, and the higher the performance-to-price ratio.

"people always fantasize about being cheap and good." in order to please consumers, but make as much profit as possible, marketing has become extremely important and can even make a difference between life and death. An industry source in Jiangsu and Zhejiang told good news that "good marketers are even more scarce than doctors."

Marketing geniuses have adopted some clever tricks, and the "price war" has become a "superficial price war".

A senior practitioner told eight points good news, "on the Internet, like double eyelids 880, 1000, 2000 can be found everywhere, actually go to the hospital to say that does not include peeling to remove fat, casually add 2000 yuan is common, or the project upgrade to get a packaging project 6800." The cost of surgery on the Internet is to compare prices, "hanging a sheep's head to sell dog meat is also forced."

Small and medium-sized institutions certainly can not beat Putian Department, in order to seize the market, Putian Department Hospital does not begrudge marketing expenses, and as long as the passenger flow is large, the ultimate benefit is not a problem.

It is risky to rely on advertising and marketing. "only people click on links or just come to consult and chat with you, and in the end, no one will do the project, and the money has to be given to the platform."

In addition to being led by the nose by downstream channels and marketers, medical and beauty institutions also lack bargaining power on the upstream raw material market. The concentration of Chinese medical and beauty market is low, even the head chain does not occupy a large market share, and the small and medium-sized private institutions that do not know each other and compete with each other are even more scattered.

Li Bin, executive director of the China plastic surgery Association and vice president of the Beijing plastic surgery Association, and chairman of the United Lig Medical and Beauty Group, angrily mentioned in an article: "after the self-inflicted price war, the Chinese medical and beauty industry is full of money, and the upstream manufacturers are still making a lot of money, sitting on the sidelines and enjoying themselves. "

83.7 billion formal medical beauty VS 136.7 billion black medical beauty: bad money is driving out good money

Outside of the industry, another problem facing a medical and beauty institution in China is the gray medical beauty of those who use no equipment and consumables, low-qualified doctors and low-cost doctors who rely on false propaganda and exaggeration to deceive customers.

Grey medical beauty is generally legal but not compliant. Fierce competition, so that Meimei has to rack its brains to develop new markets, and even some legal institutions have begun to take risks, playing some edge ball.

The demand in China's medical beauty market is largely driven by marketing.

If it is difficult to get new customers, find a way to create new projects and tap the new needs of old customers. These same marketing geniuses, with limited raw materials, have produced numerous bizarre medical projects, such as smart ears, calf muscle blockage, lower eyelids, and so on, creating new demand in a market where demand is weak.

When the market for young women is saturated, they find ways to expand to other consumers.

An employee at a channel hospital told eight good news that they had prepared "blood evolution, stem cells and liver detoxification" for older consumers who were inconvenient to promote cosmetic surgery.

According to more beautiful statistics, private plastic surgery has skyrocketed by 105% in recent years. "this is a new blue ocean."

More and more male medical and beauty programs are gradually being developed.

Compared with the formal and semi-formal institutions that are racking their brains to scrape the edges, black medical beauty, which is illegal and has no moral bottom line, has more obvious advantages in the development of new business. Eight points good news joined the name of a light medical beauty products marketer, the other side said, "10,000 can start a business, half a day of training can be employed, do not need to open a shop and any qualifications, in addition to agency fees, there is no other investment."

The products promoted by this company are "quantum instruments" and "atomizers" produced by a regular "high-end contract factory".

With their products, quantum instruments can "fill, remove wrinkles, improve and dissolve lipids". Among them, the filled products are mainly dextran "glucan" and "glucopeptide" which are "safer" than hyaluronic acid.

This product is small, you can put it in the bag, you can ask customers for door-to-door service, or you can open a room, usually and on weekends, or even talk about customers on the way. And the income of this industry can be developed offline, and you can also find a shop owner to engage in activities. "if you do an activity, tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars will be split in half, which is equivalent to using other people's resources to help yourself make money." "

Such a corner is unlikely to be tracked down by regulators.

Bad money drives out good money. A doctor said bluntly:

"what you see in this industry is the impact on society and beauty seekers after Bad money drives out good. Think about it, a cook, a month to earn 10000 yuan, learn to take an injection, easily earn 100000, how do you choose?

As long as you dare to brag, you can make money. What about our regular institutions and regular doctors? Formal institutions dance in chains, and they lose first in marketing.

The "Internet Medical and Beauty Industry Research" report released by CCTV Market Research in March 2021 almost expanded the doctor's comments. The report pointed out: "in the medical and beauty industry, the black market accounts for about 60%. The market size of domestic formal medical and beauty institutions is about 87.8 billion yuan, while the black market size is about 136.7 billion yuan."