Gengmei APP Releases 2018 Double 12 Aesthetic Medicine Consumption Report: Southern Cities Dominate Spending, Minimally Invasive Injectables and Light-Based Treatments Emerge as Key Trends

VCBeat (WeChat: vcbeat) has learned that on December 13, 2018, GengMei, a leading internet-based medical aesthetics platform in China, released the “2018 Double 12 Medical Aesthetics Consumption Report.” This report was compiled based on order placement behaviors of medical aesthetics users of different genders, ages, and income levels during GengMei’s Double 12 shopping festival, as well as performance data across various cities and medical aesthetics procedures, with the aim of providing insights into current trends and characteristics of the medical aesthetics consumer market.

During this year’s Double 12 shopping festival, thousands of medical aesthetics clinics participated in Gengmei’s promotional campaign, offering discounts and cashback on tens of thousands of aesthetic procedures. The event attracted nearly ten million users to browse and stock up, signaling that medical aesthetics is gradually becoming a routine choice for beauty-conscious consumers.

The specific consumption trends revealed in the report can be summarized into five points:

1. Among the top ten cities with the strongest consumption power, seven are in the South and three in the North; the scale of the medical aesthetics industry in the South is significantly larger than that in the North;

2. Chongqing residents favor major medical aesthetic procedures, while Beijing and Shenzhen, two major IT hubs, have become key centers for hair transplantation;

3. The post-90s generation has become the main force in plastic surgery, ranking first among all age groups with an average of 5 units per person during the Double 12 shopping festival;

4. One-third of Double 12 sales came from men, indicating huge potential in the male medical aesthetics market;

5. Injectable and energy-based minimally invasive procedures are becoming the dominant trend; liposuction is selling strongly, as slimness remains the mainstream aesthetic ideal in contemporary society.

This ranking is based on big data statistics from the Gengmei APP during the Double 12 period (December 5–12). Founded in 2013, Gengmei’s flagship product, the New Gengmei APP, serves 36 million users, establishing a comprehensive database of medical aesthetics consumption.

The following is an interpretation of the ranking:

During the Double 12 shopping festival, the top 10 cities with the highest number of orders and the highest per capita spending on medical aesthetics were Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Xi’an, Zhengzhou, and Chongqing. Among these, seven are southern cities and three are northern cities, indicating that the population seeking plastic surgery in the south is significantly larger than that in the north.

Nevertheless, as the only northern city on the list, Beijing ranked first in both rankings, thereby restoring some prestige for the northern region. Chengdu, a second-tier city, secured the second spot nationwide and the top position among southern cities, driven by its abundant medical aesthetics resources and a mature market.

The purchasing power for medical aesthetics in the top ten cities is not to be underestimated, as evidenced by the fact that 35% to 45% of the sales revenue from the ten most expensive medical aesthetic procedures originates from these leading cities.

As shown in the chart, residents of Chongqing account for a relatively high proportion of spending on major medical aesthetic procedures, such as rhinoplasty, zygomatic reduction, and facial fat grafting, indicating a stronger preference for extensive aesthetic surgeries among this population.

Furthermore, Beijing and Shenzhen are the two cities with the highest proportion of consumer spending on hair transplantation projects, far outpacing other cities. As China’s two leading IT hubs, both cities have large populations of programmers, so it is not surprising that they rank high in purchasing power for hair transplant services.

During the Gengmei Double 12 shopping festival, male aesthetic medicine users delivered a standout performance, contributing 26% of total sales. Although men accounted for only 15% of unique purchasers, they generated nearly 20% of all orders. Moreover, male customers tended to opt for high-priced procedures, with an average transaction value reaching RMB 7,500—more than twice that of female customers.

During the “Double 12” shopping festival, the top five procedures most frequently purchased by men were lower blepharoplasty (eye bag removal), hair transplantation, rhinoplasty, botulinum toxin injections, and acne treatment. The “Report on the Appearance Competitiveness of Chinese Youth” previously indicated that most men do not begin aesthetic interventions until age 40, at which point they tend to opt for middle-aged-focused medical aesthetic procedures such as eye bag removal and hair transplantation.

Compared to women, who begin adopting beauty-enhancing measures as early as age 18, there remains substantial untapped potential in the male medical aesthetics market, warranting greater investment to cultivate men’s awareness of aesthetic procedures.

Post-90s Generation Is Becoming the Main Force in Medical Aesthetics Consumption. According to backend data, during the Double 12 shopping festival, individuals from the post-90s generation placed an average of five orders each, far exceeding the three orders by the post-80s generation and the 1.5 orders by the post-70s generation. This is because those born in the 1990s are currently aged 19–28, a life stage characterized by the greatest pressure regarding physical appearance, resulting in a high demand for medical aesthetic services.

There are differences in the choice of medical aesthetic procedures among different age groups. The post-90s generation prefers major surgical interventions, with their most frequently booked procedures including facial fat grafting, double eyelid surgery, comprehensive rhinoplasty, and breast augmentation. The post-80s generation focuses more on anti-aging treatments, favoring procedures such as Ultherapy, Thermage, and botulinum toxin injections. The post-70s generation is willing to invest in addressing more pronounced signs of aging, commonly opting for procedures like lower blepharoplasty (eye bag removal) and female intimate rejuvenation.

Injectable and energy-based device minimally invasive procedures have become a major trend in medical aesthetics. Hyaluronic acid and botulinum toxin injections ranked first and fourth, respectively, among the most popular items during the “Double 12” shopping festival, sparking a stockpiling frenzy during the promotional period.

In addition, photo-rejuvenation and Ultherapy have also made it into the top ten most popular treatments. In recent years, the average transaction value for Ultherapy has dropped to nearly RMB 10,000, making it easily affordable for white-collar workers aged 25 and above in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen to undergo the procedure once a year. In contrast to the declining average transaction value of Ultherapy, that of hair transplantation has risen, primarily driven by an increase in orders for large-area hair transplants this year. This indirectly reflects that hair loss among the Chinese population has become more severe this year compared to last year.

Liposuction Ranks Among the Top 10 Most Expensive and Top 10 Most Popular Procedures; Despite Its High Cost, Liposuction Remains Popular as Slimness Continues to Dominate Contemporary Aesthetic Standards.

Gengmei App, established in 2013, is a leading consumer healthcare platform in China, offering services in plastic surgery, minimally invasive procedures, dentistry, ophthalmology, and anti-aging. Gengmei serves 36 million users, with nearly 20,000 professional doctors and over 8,000 institutions registered on the platform, featuring 4 million real-life cosmetic surgery diary cases.

In 2018, the Gengmei app completed a Series D financing round worth tens of millions of U.S. dollars. Over five years, Gengmei secured five rounds of funding, with investors including listed companies and renowned investment firms such as Tencent, HongShan, Chao Hong Ji, Matrix Partners China, Vivo Capital, Meitu, Fosun Pharma, Legend Capital, and China Securities Co., Ltd.

The following is the "2018 Double 12 Medical Aesthetics Consumption Report" released by Gengmei: