Allergan bullish on medical aesthetics prospects in China

Ireland-headquartered Allergan Plc is stepping up efforts to make inroads into China's booming medical aesthetics market with the opening of its first consumer experience center－Allergan Beauty Lab in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan province.

The Chengdu lab, Allergan's first physical experience center in the world, will enhance consumers' knowledge about qualified products, as well as institutions in the medical aesthetics industry. It will also provide free facial, skin and body assessments, besides offering tips on how to make faces prettier, as well as how to maintain a good body shape.

"The beauty lab is part of Allergan's strategy to promote sustainable development of the medical aesthetics industry in China, and is expected to become a pioneering education base for the industry as well as the vast group of consumers," said Jason Smith, senior vice-president of Allergan and president of Allergan in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and African region.

The demand for medical aesthetics in China is growing rapidly, and the market is estimated to reach 250 billion yuan ($35 billion) by 2020, according to Askci.com, a market research and consulting service provider.

Industry experts said that while the enormous demand has driven the fast growth of this industry, it has also led to a chaotic market with illegal medical aesthetics practices, fake products and smuggled goods, hindering healthy industry development.

Song Chengmin, a researcher at the National Development and Reform Commission, said: "Government supervision and consumer education are important for the industry. They need to know what beauty is, and how to pursue beauty in a correct manner."

Apart from the offline beauty lab, Allergan is cooperating with Ali Health strategically to build an online flagship store to offer medical aesthetics education and digital consultancy services, helping consumers to understand product information, as well as promoting the sustainable development of the medical aesthetics ecosystem.

White Wang, president of Allergan China, said: "China is crucial for us. We respect the Chinese market. Instead of bringing international partners to China, we choose to team up with local partners, such as Alibaba and Tencent. This is our localization strategy."

Last month, Allergan's Juvederm Voluma has been approved by the National Medical Products Administration, marking the first cheek-filling product approved in China.

Recognizing that China is one of its most important markets, the company will continue to bring more innovative products to the country, and if the beauty lab in Chengdu proves to be a success, it will open up more beauty labs in other cities in China, Smith said.