At the moment when consumer demand is changing and efficiency is paramount, Betani, the leader of domestic beauty products, is stepping out of a development path with technology first and innovation leading.
Recently, Betaine’s new raw materials, the extract of Erigeron breviscapus and the extract of Lychee grass, were put on record in National Medical Products Administration, and entered a three-year monitoring period, which means another major breakthrough in Betaine’s scientific research in the field of skin care.
Under the market trend of efficacy skin care, plant raw materials have become a force that cannot be ignored in the filing of new raw materials, and more and more enterprises have realized the importance of raw material innovation. The new raw materials of erigeron breviscapus extract and lychee herb extract are on the market, which is of great significance for the efficacy of products to reach a higher level and seize the market of skin care raw materials.
At the same time, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently announced the list of national technological innovation demonstration enterprises in 2023, and Betani was approved as one of 68 technological innovation demonstration enterprises. This is another national honor recently won by the company after passing the accreditation of the national industrial design center, showing its leading position in technological innovation capability and transformation of innovation achievements.
In the beauty market where homogenization is becoming more and more serious and stock competition is becoming more and more fierce, only enterprises with profound R&D strength and solid brand influence can stand out in the market competition, which is the advantage that Betani has. As a leading enterprise in the sensitive muscle beauty sub-industry, Betani relies on Yunnan’s natural plant resources and research and development of China’s characteristic plant raw materials to provide solutions to skin problems from the plant kingdom, which is worthy of the name of "the head geese".
Natural ingredients are favored, backed by Yunnan, with rare plants.
With the frequent capital operation and the accelerated entry of enterprises, the domestic beauty industry has become more and more "involuted". According to the data of Tianyancha, at least 6,500 cosmetic enterprises established in the past year have been cancelled, and the cancellation of enterprises or stores whose business scope includes "cosmetics" has exceeded 10,000, which means that the life span of these enterprises is less than one year.
With the change of consumer demand from "phenomenon" and "scene" to scientific rationality, natural green skin care products with efficacy and safety have become more popular among consumers, and pure natural plant ingredients have become a "sharp blade" for enterprises to stand out from the encirclement. Skin care products manufacturers began to return to the products themselves, focusing on technology research and development, and the natural ingredients of "plant raw materials" were gradually washed away and returned to their original hearts.
According to the relevant statistics of Markets and Markets, the global market size of plant extracts is expected to reach 58.4 billion US dollars in 2025, which is about 426.4 billion yuan. Domestic skin care products manufacturers are also following the news: The Catalogue of Used Cosmetic Raw Materials (2021 Edition) published by National Medical Products Administration shows that the number of used raw materials of cosmetics produced and sold in China has increased to 8,972, including nearly 3,000 kinds of plant raw materials, accounting for about one third.
Although China has a tradition of plant research and medicinal use, it is still in a late position in today’s technical conditions and market environment, especially in the application of plant extraction and separation technology and the middle and lower reaches. At the same time, the blank market also provides a breakthrough point for brands and factories, which is expected to help China’s characteristic plant raw materials to establish a global advantage.
In this international competition, Betani in China has become one of the best, shouldering the banner of domestic plant raw material research. With the platform advantage of Yunke Characteristic Plant Extraction Laboratory and the abundant plant resources in Yunnan, Betani R&D team conducted in-depth excavation of Yunnan characteristic plants, explored the main raw materials for skin care, such as Fructus Zanthoxyli oil and Portulaca oleracea extract, and clarified their effective concentration in principle, setting an industry benchmark for domestic plant raw material R&D enterprises in China.
Yunnan, with its diverse climate and unique advantages, is undoubtedly a fertile land. Plants including tropical, subtropical, temperate and even cold zones are bred here, and there are countless rare species. Among them, Erigeron breviscapus, also known as Erigeron breviscapus, brings the answer to skin rejuvenation and high energy activity as its name suggests. Experiments show that the extract of Erigeron breviscapus not only has obvious inhibitory effect on various inflammatory factors, but also shows excellent soothing and anti-inflammatory effects, and can effectively control skin oil and enhance the protection of skin barrier.
However, Lychee grass, which has the alias of "Snow Grass", has the effect of "fire extinguisher" on the skin. Touching the skin is like encountering a "first snow", which can quickly cool the skin, relieve the hot, painful and itchy state of sensitive muscles, effectively reduce the content of fat drops, reduce the oily state of the skin, and open a new experience of soothing and caring.
The filing of the two new raw materials in National Medical Products Administration will not only help Betani to develop new products that meet the multi-dimensional needs of consumers and enhance the company’s market competitiveness, but also effectively enhance the added value of plant resources in Yunnan Province, promote the industrialization of Yunnan’s characteristic plants, and promote the development of health industry through scientific research.
The filing of cosmetic raw materials is becoming stricter, and the policy encourages accelerating innovative research and development.
Under the market trend that efficacy skin care is becoming the mainstream day by day, plant raw materials have become a force that cannot be ignored in the filing of new raw materials, and more and more enterprises have realized the importance of raw material innovation. Especially in today’s cosmetics industry, the supervision has been strengthened and the filing of raw materials has become stricter. The filing of two raw materials has injected vitality into Bettini’s participation in the competition of skin care track dominated by plant raw materials.
Since the "Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Cosmetics" was promulgated in 2021, cosmetics have entered the era of strict supervision. On November 10th, 2023, National Medical Products Administration issued "Announcement on Issues Related to Encouraging Innovation and Standardizing Management of New Cosmetic Raw Materials". The announcement pointed out that the drug regulatory authorities should strengthen the supervision and management of new raw materials and related products, and strengthen the monitoring and evaluation of the registration, use and safety of new raw materials for cosmetics, which shows that the management of raw materials for related enterprises has received great attention.
On the one hand, it is compliance supervision and on the other hand, it is support and encouragement. From the Regulation on the Supervision and Administration of Cosmetics issued by the State Council to encourage and support the use of modern science and technology, combined with traditional advantageous projects and characteristic plant resources in China, to the Action Plan for High-quality Development of Cosmetic Industry in Shanghai, it is proposed to strengthen the research on new raw materials, functional raw materials, flavors and fragrances and China characteristic plant resources, which shows that the central and local governments encourage the development and utilization of characteristic plant resources, thus pointing out the direction for innovative research and development of new raw materials for cosmetics.
Since its establishment, Betani has keenly captured consumers’ attention to product ingredients and formulas in the China market, and actively devoted herself to the basic research of functional skin care products. Based on the characteristic plants such as Celastrus angulatus, Portulaca oleracea, camellia yunnanensis, Paris polyphylla var. yunnanensis, and Physalis alkekengi, she has carried out a large number of independent research and development related to the efficacy of relieving inflammation, anti-aging, barrier repair, plant preservation, plant acne removal and plant sun protection, and initially realized the industrialization of plant screening and extraction.
Take Winona’s star product, Shu Min Moisturizing Special Cream, as an example. The core ingredients of this product come from the extracts of Fructus Lycii and Portulaca oleracea produced in Yunnan, which not only has excellent repairing and soothing effects, but also meets the consumers’ demands for efficacy and naturalness to the greatest extent, making it a leader among similar skin care products.
In terms of sensitive skin problems, Betani continues to explore and propose new solutions. In July, 2023, the company was invited to participate in the 25th World Dermatology Conference held in Singapore. Based on the "four-in-one" whitening mechanism proposed by Professor He Li, the leader of the innovation team of the Ministry of Education, Winona released a new whitening and whitening essence, which can inhibit pigment synthesis, reduce the inflammatory reaction, reduce the proliferation and expansion of blood vessels and repair the skin barrier.
With long-term deep cultivation in the field of sensitive skin care, Betani’s market share is growing. According to Euromonitor data, from 2013 to 2022, the compound annual growth rate of China Dermocosmetics Skin Care market scale was 24.9%, while Winona’s terminal retail sales increased from 0.8 billion yuan to 6.62 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 63.0%. The market share of Dermocosmetics Skin Car in China increased from 2.1% to 23.2%, ranking first in the market share for four consecutive years.
Abundant clinical and academic resources, increase investment to break technical difficulties.
The extraction process of plant raw materials is a complex art. The whole process will go through solvent extraction, mechanical crushing, mechanical pressing, distillation and other technological means, and the vitality and essence of plants will be extracted with ingenious techniques to provide vibrant raw materials for cosmetics.
This process is not simple. From a technical point of view, the current research on plant raw materials is still in its infancy in terms of basic research depth and innovation, and it is generally faced with problems in safety, efficacy and stability, and the relevant standards are still in the formative stage, which has caused the phenomenon of insufficient stamina for the differentiation research of plant raw materials.
This is why skin care faucets such as Betani have accelerated the pace of extraction and research and development of plant raw materials. From 2017 to 2022, Betani’s R&D staff increased from 64 to 391, accounting for 6.1% to 12.8%; The amount of R&D investment increased from 29 million yuan to 278 million yuan, and the proportion of operating income increased from 3.6% to 5.6%.
Because the sensitive muscle maintenance industry has certain medical and health attributes, it is easier for enterprises jointly developed and cooperated with authoritative organizations to gain the trust of consumers in the components, functions and treatment methods of sensitive muscle maintenance-related products. By the end of 2022, Betani had completed clinical research and effect observation of dermatology in 63 hospitals, published 184 papers in SCI and core journals, and participated in the formulation of 31 group standards of efficacy skin care products in China, which was fruitful in clinical data and academic resources.
Moreover, the company held the China Sensitive Skin Summit Forum for four consecutive years, and invited authoritative dermatologists to discuss the latest research results of sensitive skin. In addition, Winona brand has deepened its professional image in the minds of doctors and consumers and led the development of the industry by publishing foreword insights. In 2023, the 4th China Sensitive Skin Summit Forum and TMIC released the White Paper on the Development Trend of Pan-sensitivity in 2023, and together with Dr. Lilac, created the New Concept of Sensitive and Pan-sensitive Skin Care.
In February last year, Betani’s Yunnan Characteristic Plant Extraction Laboratory was approved as the "National Standard Sample Calibration Laboratory for Natural Products", becoming the 37th institution awarded by the National Standard Technical Committee’s Professional Working Group for Natural Products Standard Samples. On November 30th, the company won the honorary title of "National Industrial Design Center", demonstrating its outstanding strength in innovative R&D and design.
Under the background of the upgrading of consumer demand, the favor of natural raw material products and the strengthening of industry supervision, the competition point of domestic beauty enterprises has gradually changed from marketing flow to the product’s own efficacy. Nowadays, Betani, a domestic beauty leader who insists on independent research and development and attaches importance to the innovative development of plant raw materials, is leading a new era of functional skin care development, and is expected to achieve greater development with gradually deepening brand influence and increasingly sufficient technical reserves.