How is TikTok reshaping beauty sales in the Asia-Pacific region?

Tiktok in China, Douyin, started push their ecommerce business in China at late of 2020, and experienced strong growth since then.

By 2025, Douyin’s beauty sector generate RMB 270 Bn (USD39B), become #1 among top 3 platform,  vs. Tmall RMB 221 Bn (USD 32B), JD RMB 53 Bn (USD 7.6). In 2022, Douyin’s revenue is about 50% of Tmall, most of it’s share are gained from Tmall, while JD’s GMV remain stable (range from RMB 50 to 70 Bn last few years).

As for premium beauty, Tmall still dominate the market, takes ~62% share (dropped from 68% in 2022), while Douyin grow from 12% to 26% from 2022 to 2025.  

A few characteristics of Douyin:

1. as a social commerce platform, live stream based on KOC/KOL played a key role vs. Tmall/JD is still more based on traditional ecommerce;

2. Douyin is a platform where many local brands generate significant share of their growth, e.g., high end player such Maogeping, mid end such as Broya and many so-called “douyin brand”.  for example, in premium  beauty in which global brands still dominate in China, local brands (Maogeping, Caitang, etc) contribute ~35% for Douyin vs. 15% for Tmall. In another words, Douyin enhanced growth of local brands via effectively corporation with brands/leveraging growing acceptance of Chinese consumer to local beauty brands, which is a major trend in overall beauty sector in China, while also benefit from local brands’ growth

3. While brands enjoy high growth in Douyin, high cost is still key painpoint. For example, for a typical well known premium brand, its ROI in Douyin could be 2.5-3 in Douyin vs. 5-6 in Tmall (ROI define as sales in the same day for KOL/KOC, and sales in 30 days for short video and ads). KOL/KOC cost and high return ratio is key root cost. To address this issue, brands try to increase their self-livestreaming to above 50%, while at early stage of their development, top tier KOL is still critical.

In Q4 2025, we found that consumers in the Asia & Australasia region were around 5% more likely (43%) than the global average (38%) to purchase products based on AI recommendations. The situation becomes a little more complicated however when you consider how the same set of consumers feel about AI recommending them beauty and grooming products specifically – whilst 42% of them are likely to make a purchase on its recommendation, more of them show a preference towards marketing affiliates (47%), livestream influencers (49%), and social media influencers (53%). When viewed together, the evidence quite strongly suggests that that the ‘human face’ is still more important to consumers in this category, than AI. It is therefore my opinion that AI based purchasing experiences will probably improve overall conversion rates, but only in terms of convenience and its ability to help consumers navigate oversaturated markets and reduce decision fatigue – not necessarily in terms of choice determination or shaping consumer sentiment.

TikTok has become a major social platform—and in many markets, a “closed-loop” ecosystem integrating content, community, commerce. Before delving into the “how,” beauty brands should first ask: (a) what role they want TikTok to play in their strategy (brand building / traffic generation / GMV generation / all), and (b) what level of investment versus profitability they are willing to accept on the platform.

For brands seeking to achieve sizable and profitable GMV on TikTok, success hinges on building a meaningful base of organic traffic, which helps keep unit marketing costs under control. This is typically driven by high volume of content tailored to the target audience, strong consumer engagement and acquisition, and effective livestream performance supported by data-driven retargeting and operations. Together, these elements create a reinforcing loop that improves platform ranking and recommendation distribution — making it critical for brands to get to top tier in their category to unlock sustained organic traffic and scalable GMV.

Local brands are often the first to achieve profitable GMV on TikTok, supported by lower cost structures and agile, disciplined execution. Multinational brands should learn from these players and define their own playbooks accordingly.

While TikTok is fundamentally reshaping beauty sales across the broader APAC region, its direct impact on the Hong Kong market remains relatively muted, as the international version of the app is not officially accessible locally. Instead, Hong Kong’s social commerce and beauty discovery are heavily driven by platforms like Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) and Douyin, which similarly leverage short-form video and influencer-led live commerce.

However, looking at the wider APAC landscape, particularly Southeast Asia, TikTok's influence is undeniable. It has shifted the retail paradigm from traditional product discovery to immediate, frictionless purchasing via TikTok Shop. The platform forces beauty brands to adopt an 'entertainment-first' strategy, relying on authentic creator partnerships and viral trends to drive instant conversions. For brands expanding across APAC, adapting to this seamless blend of entertainment and e-commerce is no longer just a trend, but a baseline requirement for growth.