Meituan Medical Aesthetics Launches 'Genuine Products Alliance' and Introduces 'Medical Aesthetics Select' Consumption Model

Meituan Medical Aesthetics Strategic Cooperation Signing Ceremony with Upstream Brand Institutions

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that the 2019 Meituan Medical Aesthetics Industry Summit was held in Shanghai on January 22. This marked the first public appearance of Meituan Medical Aesthetics since its upgrade from a niche category to an independent business unit. At the summit, Meituan Medical Aesthetics joined hands with Restylane, Bloomage Biotechnology, Allergan, and other partners to jointly establish the “Authentic Products Alliance” for the medical aesthetics industry, and unveiled the “Meituan Select” new model for safe consumption, aiming to help build a trustworthy environment and industry ecosystem for consumers.

“In 2019, Meituan Medical Aesthetics will further explore new ways to connect the upstream, midstream, and downstream segments of the medical aesthetics industry, creating closed-loop value and unlocking larger incremental market opportunities through these enhanced linkages. Meanwhile, we are committed to building a comprehensive medical aesthetics ecosystem, opening up managed operation and agency models to the market, and establishing a service community centered on users,” said Zhang Jing, General Manager of Meituan’s In-Store Comprehensive Business Division, at the conference.

Data shows that by 2020, the market size of China’s medical aesthetics industry will reach RMB 460 billion. However, the market remains fraught with irregularities, including counterfeit and smuggled products, unlicensed practitioners, and unaccredited clinics. These issues not only hinder the standardized development of the industry but also make it more difficult for consumers to make informed decisions.

Opportunities and Challenges Go Hand in Hand. “On the demand side, the consumer base for medical aesthetics is becoming more diverse and extensive. The trend toward younger consumers in medical aesthetics is evident; on the Meituan and Dianping apps, consumers under the age of 35 account for more than 80% of medical aesthetics users. Alongside consumption upgrades, consumers require more effective and safer medical aesthetic products and services to meet their ‘beauty enhancement’ needs. It is imperative to upgrade supply-side services and establish a safe and standardized medical aesthetics market,” said Li Xiaohui, Head of the Medical Aesthetics and Healthcare Business Department at Meituan.

At the conference, Meituan Medical Aesthetics announced new strategic initiatives to upgrade its supply-side services. On the upstream end of the supply chain, Meituan collaborated with aesthetic medicine pharmaceutical brands and distributors to jointly establish the “Authentic Products Alliance.” This initiative involves directly displaying drug qualification and authorization information on its platform and enabling QR code-based drug verification at medical aesthetic institutions, thereby combating counterfeit and substandard products and promoting standardized development within the industry.

Meanwhile, by opening up third-party operational service capabilities, we help small and medium-sized merchants, such as physician clinics that lack the resources to build their own network operations and marketing teams, enhance their online promotional capabilities, reduce customer acquisition costs, and improve operational efficiency.

Building on the integration of upstream and downstream segments of the industry chain, Meituan Medical Aesthetics will also launch the “Meituan Select” service through innovative supply offerings, designing a safer and more effective new model for medical aesthetic consumption. This new model refers to a comprehensive process wherein users, upon identifying their medical aesthetic needs, first review professional treatment plans provided by upstream brand institutions online; after finalizing a plan, they select officially authorized service providers, conduct online consultations, and purchase services; prior to treatment, they verify the authenticity of the products to be used by scanning QR codes; they then receive offline services and post online reviews. By enhancing information transparency across the upstream, midstream, and downstream links of the value chain, this approach further ensures the safety of medical aesthetic consumption.

The new model for medical aesthetics consumption will initially pilot with the “non-surgical medical aesthetics” category, which has the fastest demand growth, focusing on products such as hyaluronic acid fillers, botulinum toxin, and skin boosters. The first batch of upstream partners for strategic collaboration includes well-known major brands in the medical aesthetics industry, such as Restylane, Bloomage Biotechnology, Allergan, Yvoire, and Filorga.

For example, a consumer may have the clear goal of facial “anti-aging,” yet most consumers are unfamiliar with the specific medical aesthetic products or solutions to adopt. With the help of this new approach, consumers shift from first “finding providers” to first “finding solutions,” gaining an understanding of specific medical aesthetic treatment plans before seeking out the corresponding service providers. For instance, Restylane’s “Peach Heart Aesthetics” anti-aging protocol involves designing peach-heart-shaped zones of varying sizes on the face, followed by “targeted” and “quantified” hyaluronic acid injections in areas such as the under-eye bags, chin, and forehead, to achieve comprehensive facial anti-aging results.

“Under the ‘new supply’ paradigm, our supply and distribution model has evolved from the original ‘brand-institution-user’ framework, which focused on providing medical aesthetic service solutions to merchants, to a user-centric ‘brand-user-institution’ model. This shift not only helps enhance brand awareness and expand the incremental market, but also reduces the losses and harm caused to consumers by counterfeit products. Meanwhile, by leveraging Meituan’s big data and innovative technologies, we can gain a comprehensive understanding of user profiles and consumption feedback, laying the foundation for future drug development and precision marketing,” said Ding Yanyun, Marketing Director at Restylane.

It is reported that users will be able to access the “Premium Aesthetic Medicine” service as early as March this year when searching for medical aesthetic services on the Meituan and Dianping apps, enabling them to achieve their desired appearance more safely and effectively through a new consumption model.