Soyoung Announces Strategic Collaboration with Six Leading Aesthetic Device Brands to Launch Flagship Stores and Rebuild the Industry Ecosystem
On September 9, at the 2021 Meivuos International Medical Aesthetics Conference held in the “Capital of Medical Aesthetics,” So-Young, an online medical aesthetics service platform, announced strategic partnerships with leading upstream manufacturers in the photoelectric-based medical aesthetic anti-aging sector, both domestic and international. These partners include Fotona, Lumenis, Syneron Candela, Alma Lasers, Cynosure, and Chirui Laser (listed in no particular order). The six brands have collectively launched official flagship stores on the So-Young platform.
It is understood that after the six major brands’ flagship stores jointly launch on So-Young, they will enable over 1,000 officially authorized institutions to provide consumers with anti-aging medical aesthetic services backed by authenticity guarantees. Meanwhile, So-Young will leverage its influence among both medical aesthetic providers and consumers to help these six manufacturers build broader and deeper connections with medical aesthetic institutions and establish brand influence that reaches directly to beauty-seeking consumers.
(Brand representatives listed in no particular order: Feng Zhengkai, Marketing Director at Qizhi Laser; Sun Yu, Greater China Product Manager at Alma Lasers Israel; Huang Danjie, China Market Department Manager at Cynosure USA; Jia Lili, Sales Director for the Southwest Region at Syneron Candela; Zhen Jun, Private Sector Sales Director for Greater China at Lumenis; Liu Ming, Private Sector Sales Director for Greater China at Fotona Europe; Wang Shiyu, General Manager of the Supply Chain Product Marketing Department at SoYoung Technology)
Establishing a presence on SoYoung and comprehensively expanding online channels, Chiozo Laser’s senior management team—including Deputy General Manager Cheng Hui, Deputy General Manager Tan Yan, and Sales Director for Eastern China Li Mingbin—expressed strong endorsement. Cheng Hui, Deputy General Manager of Chiozo Laser, stated, “With the launch of our flagship brand store, Chiozo Laser has officially established an authorized platform for genuine products on the internet. In the future, Chiozo Laser will collaborate with more authorized partners to provide superior optoelectronic aesthetic medical devices and services to consumers in China and around the world.”
Since 2018, China has become the world’s second-largest medical aesthetics market, accounting for 13.5% of the global market share, and is the fastest-growing country among the top five markets. Recently, the “2021 Report on Consumption Trends in Anti-Aging Medical Aesthetics in China,” jointly released by Xinhua Finance (under Xinhua News Agency) and SoYoung Data Research Institute, showed that in 2020, energy-based device treatments and injectable procedures accounted for a significant proportion of the total market size for non-surgical minimally invasive medical aesthetics, reaching 42.80% and 42.50%, respectively. The majority of these were anti-aging treatments such as intense pulsed light (IPL) skin rejuvenation and mesotherapy injections. Consumer interest in anti-aging medical aesthetic procedures continues to rise, with energy-based device treatments being the most anticipated.
However, according to the “White Paper on Insights into China’s Medical Aesthetics Industry (2020),” due to the high cost, strong monopoly, and strict regulatory control of legitimate photoelectric devices, more than 90% of medical aesthetic equipment circulating in illegal medical aesthetics venues are counterfeit. The remaining less than 10% may consist of genuine products and gray-market goods that have entered the market through multiple layers of leasing or smuggling—a situation starkly contrasting with that of licensed medical aesthetics institutions. Consumers who rashly choose illegal medical aesthetics providers for photoelectric treatments risk not only financial loss with no therapeutic effect but also, in severe cases, permanent injury.
“Counterfeit devices currently on the market are primarily refurbished equipment phased out abroad, as well as imitation products manufactured by unregulated domestic medical device companies, posing significant safety risks to consumers of aesthetic medicine services,” said a representative from an aesthetic medical device supply company in a previous media interview.
Therefore, establishing an effective connection between aesthetic medicine consumers and aesthetic device brands, thereby enabling consumers to access high-quality, guaranteed aesthetic services, has become a crucial element in the healthy development of the aesthetic medicine industry. Liu Ming, Sales Director for the Private Sector in Greater China at Fotona Europe, stated: “Listing on So-Young helps us break down the information barriers characterized by B2B institutional sales and a lack of brand awareness among beauty seekers. This allows more aesthetic medical institutions to directly purchase compliant, authentic devices from us, while also enabling a broader base of beauty seekers to intuitively understand the functions and advantages of our products. This represents a significant strategic move in restructuring the industrial ecosystem.”
The entry of six major photoelectric device brands into So-Young to launch flagship stores has naturally brought their star products in respective fields. These include Fotona 4D by Fotona, M22 AOPT by Lumenis, PicoWay by Candela, the newly launched body contouring device E-Liji by Candela, Alma Lasers' Gold Thermage Plus, PicoSure Focus Lens by Cynosure, and Qizhi CC Light.
Gong Wei, Deputy Secretary-General of the Chengdu Medical Aesthetics Industry Association, believes that having direct access to star products with authenticity guarantees through medical aesthetics platforms provides a natural safeguard for consumers’ medical aesthetic services.
Recently, in the "2021 Report on Consumption Trends in Medical Aesthetics and Anti-Aging in China," jointly released by Xinhua Finance and the SoYoung Data Yanjiuyuan, Dr. Zhao Xiaozhong, a physician listed on the SoYoung Emerald List and Dean of Xiao Zhong Lige Medical Aesthetics Chain, cautioned that the state imposes strict regulatory controls on the distribution of medical devices and pharmaceuticals. Related products may only be sold to licensed medical aesthetic institutions. To avoid the use of gray-market or counterfeit injectables and energy-based devices, consumers are strongly advised to seek medical aesthetic treatments exclusively at legitimate medical aesthetic institutions. Currently, all compliant devices and injectables feature official verification markers, allowing consumers to authenticate the corresponding equipment and products through manufacturer-certified channels.
For the onboarding of the flagship stores of six major brands, So-Young has formulated exclusive support policies, including waiving onboarding fees and prioritizing traffic allocation through prominent features such as homepage access and promotions during major platform sales events. In future collaborations, So-Young will also provide these brands with services such as data statistical analysis, helping them quickly understand and meet the diverse needs of both institutional clients and individual aesthetic seekers.
Zhen Jun, Sales Director for Greater China at Lumenis, believes that opening a brand flagship store on So-Young is, on the one hand, an efficient response to market demand, which can increase the coverage of its legitimate optical and electronic medical devices and thereby safeguard consumers’ lawful rights and interests; on the other hand, it shortens the communication channel between compliant medical aesthetic institutions and its brand, effectively enhancing efficiency and mutual benefits.
Regarding this collaboration, Wang Shiyu, General Manager of the Supply Chain Product Marketing Department at So-Young Technology, stated: “The launch of brand flagship stores on So-Young represents an innovative breakthrough for upstream brands, shifting their focus from serving medical aesthetic institutions to establishing direct communication with consumers. This approach creates more opportunities for consumer engagement, enables the delivery of higher-quality services, and facilitates the dissemination of precise technical and clinical information, thereby enhancing market recognition and performance of their own devices.”
It is reported that, marked by the opening of flagship stores for six major photoelectric medical aesthetic anti-aging brands, SoYoung will continue to build a communication platform between manufacturers and consumers. By joining forces with more upstream medical aesthetic brands, SoYoung and its brand partners are committed to promoting awareness of authentic devices, thereby further safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of beauty seekers.