Soyoung Embarks on a New Journey: Transformation into an Industrial Internet Platform

“This year marks the 10th anniversary of So-Young’s founding and the second year of our renewed entrepreneurial journey. What is past is prologue; So-Young has decided to set out anew!” On February 18, the 8th Asia-Pacific Aesthetic Medicine Gala, themed “New Journey, Setting Out Again,” kicked off (hereinafter referred to as the Gala). At this event, Jin Xing, Chairman and CEO of So-Young Group, officially announced So-Young Technology’s development strategy: transitioning from an aesthetic medicine e-commerce platform to an industrial internet platform, and formally launching three innovative business lines—So-Young Premium, So-Young Express, and So-Young Exclusive—to comprehensively empower aesthetic medicine institutions, manufacturers, and practitioners.

“At the Asia-Pacific Aesthetic Medicine Summit, Jin Xing stated, ‘In 2022, China’s medical aesthetics market not only contracted partially but also recorded its first negative growth in two decades. Strictly speaking, 2022 marked the true “winter” for the industry, signaling the end of the era of extensive growth.’”

According to data from the “2022 White Paper on China’s Medical Aesthetics Industry,” jointly released by So-Young Data Yanjiuyuan and Souyang Meishang Research Institute, China’s medical aesthetics market has undergone profound transformations over the past three years, driven by the interplay of multiple macroeconomic factors. In addition to the severe impact of the pandemic, the market has witnessed widespread changes: consumers have shifted from younger to more mature age groups; consumption patterns have evolved from emotional to rational decision-making; pricing has moved from premium luxury to affordable accessibility; and the industry has transitioned from excessive marketing to regulatory compliance.

Meanwhile, the non-surgical aesthetic medicine market has achieved counter-trend growth, with online orders on the SoYoung platform accounting for 84% of the total, establishing an overwhelming advantage over surgical aesthetic procedures. Within the non-surgical sector, the gross merchandise value (GMV) of anti-aging treatments increased by 56.2% over three years, injectable contouring treatments saw a 113% GMV increase over the same period, and regenerative treatments experienced a 28-fold surge in GMV. As consumer demands become increasingly diversified, multiple new industry growth points have emerged. The substantial space and potential for growth in non-surgical aesthetics are bound to reshape the landscape of the medical aesthetics industry once again. However, while the penetration rate of medical aesthetics continues to rise, consumers’ expectations for high-quality services are also climbing. In contrast, weak linkages and low efficiency across various segments of the medical aesthetics supply chain are severely hindering the scalable growth of the non-surgical aesthetic market.

Against this backdrop, So-Young has been compelled to engage in deep reflection on the fundamental logic of the industry. The original medical aesthetics e-commerce model was essentially a group-buying approach, which is relatively rudimentary. By relying on price-driven traffic acquisition, it could only attract price-sensitive users and easily triggered price wars, thereby adversely affecting user experience and service fulfillment. To attract mid-to-high-end users, substantial improvements must be made in procedural innovation, combination therapies, and service delivery. Meanwhile, this process should help institutions and manufacturers reduce costs, improve efficiency, and enhance business opportunities. Only in this way can the medical aesthetics industry continue to develop positively and identify new growth curves in the market.

Based on this, So-Young will fully transition from consumer internet to industrial internet in 2023. Jin Xing believes that as non-surgical aesthetic medicine rapidly penetrates the market, it will also compel the aesthetic medicine industry to accelerate quality upgrades. Only by integrating the supply chain and leveraging synergistic effects across upstream, midstream, and downstream segments can superior services and experiences be delivered to users. So-Young’s strategic transformation will focus on participating in supply-side reforms within the aesthetic medicine industry. Building on its longstanding advantages in clinics, physicians, supply chains, and traffic acquisition, So-Young aims to address bottlenecks in high-quality aesthetic medicine supply chains through technological and business model innovations. It will restructure, optimize, and upgrade core elements such as physicians’ procedural techniques, clinic fulfillment and operations, and supply chain products, thereby enhancing end-to-end efficiency and unlocking latent potential.

As the three key pillars supporting So-Young’s industrial internet strategy, Venus officially launched the “So-Young Three-Shares” business at this gala, namely So-Young Quick Share, So-Young Premium Share, and So-Young Exclusive Share. In the future, So-Young will provide comprehensive empowerment to the entire industry in areas such as traffic, product offerings, and supply chain by implementing refined operations tailored to different user types, product categories, and service items.

On the industry side, So-Young Youxiang has launched its Five-Star Light Medical Aesthetics initiative for the first time. Guided by the concept of “five-star” standards—encompassing treatment protocols, physicians, services, safeguards, and provider networks—it further upgrades So-Young’s existing high-quality offerings to deliver a one-stop service fulfillment solution for users. By addressing pain points across the entire value chain, including equipment, products, client acquisition for providers, and service delivery, it reshapes the medical aesthetics ecosystem. On the user side, comprehensive upgrades have been implemented in treatment planning, patient experience, and service guarantees, ushering in a new era of standardized, high-quality medical aesthetics. To date, So-Young Youxiang has expanded to 27 core cities, partnered with 131 institutions, and referred over 10,000 high-quality clients to these partners. Leveraging So-Young’s robust internet capabilities, product portfolio management, and service fulfillment strengths, So-Young Youxiang is projected to reach a scale of 50 cities, 500 partner institutions, 30 product offerings, and 180,000 served users in 2023.

SoYoung Express is designed to address the current characteristics of non-surgical aesthetic treatments—namely, low prices and high frequency. By upgrading user services through three key pillars—Express Value, Express Convenience, and Express Assurance—it aims to create a new consumption model for non-surgical aesthetics that is transparent, lightweight, and standardized. This initiative enhances the user consumption experience, accelerates decision-making efficiency for purchases, and drives sustained growth in customer acquisition capabilities for partner institutions. Currently, SoYoung Express has just launched, with its initial phase expected to roll out in six core cities, focusing on two major categories: botulinum toxin and intense pulsed light (IPL) therapy. The service will gradually expand to 33 cities while simultaneously broadening category coverage. By year-end, it is projected to be fully available to all institutions on the SoYoung platform, covering over 50% of maintenance treatment items.

SoYoung Exclusive is a bespoke service tailored to users with personalized medical aesthetics needs, helping beauty seekers find top-tier doctors more efficiently while enabling these doctors to realize their professional value. In the future, SoYoung Exclusive will collaborate with China’s leading medical aesthetics physicians to develop specialized aesthetic procedures. Through a flat-structured and professionally segmented promotion strategy, it will enhance the visibility of outstanding doctors and premium treatments. Furthermore, this model will assist distinguished physicians in creating differentiated procedural techniques and maximizing the value of their personal brand IP.

It is reported that the So-Young Exclusive Korea Pavilion will launch in the first quarter of this year, while the domestic version will go live in the second quarter.

At this year’s gala, Jin Xing also stated that the company would continue to deepen its engagement in the medical aesthetics supply chain and build an ecosystem for authentic medical aesthetic products. Leveraging SoYoung’s unique advantages, it will empower the supply chain across multiple segments—including consumer insights, procedural R&D, physician training, product promotion, and market sales activation—thereby helping institutions reduce costs, improve efficiency, and drive incremental growth.

It is reported that Qizhi Laser, a subsidiary of So-Young Group, will advance its photonics strategy and refine its photonics system. Meanwhile, So-Young Technology has exclusively distributed and operated Elasity, a unicorn brand in the hyaluronic acid sector, filling the gap in China’s mid-to-high-end market. The brand is spearheading a new trend in bone structure aesthetics and developing more segmented market opportunities in the field of facial contouring.

Meanwhile, based on its assessment of the trend toward video-based content and the rising aesthetic expectations of beauty seekers, So-Young will also launch a live-streamed facial analysis service by opening a dedicated channel. Centered on aesthetic analysis, this service will invite top-tier aesthetics influencers and aesthetic consultants to provide compliant online facial assessments and aesthetic design. Through live-streamed facial analysis, So-Young will not only create new leverage points for user acquisition and marketing but also capitalize on the unstoppable wave of video content, thereby establishing a new traffic pool for the platform.

At the same time, the “So-Young Emerald Doctor – Technological Breakthrough Award,” known as the “Oscars” of the medical aesthetics industry, was unveiled at the gala. After rigorous evaluation by top industry experts across four dimensions—advancement, scientific rigor, practicality, and safety—five finalists were selected. Following on-site defenses, Dr. Gu Yunpeng, Attending Physician at the Plastic Surgery Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences; Dr. Li Xiaoge, Associate Chief Physician at Qingxingrong Plastic Surgery Hospital; and Dr. Wang Liang, Associate Chief Physician at Chongqing Huadu Medical Aesthetics Outpatient Department, were awarded first, second, and third prizes, respectively. Dr. Guo Yu, Associate Chief Physician at Huadong Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University in Shanghai, and Dr. Zou Gongwei, Associate Chief Physician at Shanghai Rose Medical Aesthetics Hospital, received Excellence Awards. These recipients have become exemplars driving technological innovation in medical aesthetics and new momentum for the sustainable development of the industry.

Furthermore, at the inaugural So-Young Public Welfare Charity Gala, hosted by the So-Young Public Welfare Foundation and supported by the Phoenix News Public Welfare Channel and the Beijing Weiai Public Welfare Foundation, the So-Young Public Welfare Foundation raised over RMB 6 million in donations, establishing itself as China’s leading medical aesthetics infrastructure platform with the largest-scale aesthetic medicine relief initiatives and the most substantial foundational resources.

“We have three main judgments regarding the future development trends of the medical aesthetics industry. First, as the quality of medical aesthetic services continues to improve and prices continue to decline, the penetration rate of the industry will further increase, leaving substantial room for growth across the sector. Second, the era of extensive,粗放式 growth in the medical aesthetics industry has come to an end. We must implement refined operations tailored to user types, institution types, and service categories, while providing comprehensive empowerment through traffic, product offerings, and supply chain capabilities. This aligns with So-Young’s goal of transforming into an industrial internet platform, which is why we have launched our ‘Sanxiang’ (Three-Sharing) business. Third, the various links in the medical aesthetics industry have historically been weakly connected and inefficient. The future marks a new era focused on enhancing efficiency and accelerating growth within the industry, and we aim to achieve this objective through the industrial internet,” said Jin Xing.