Recently, the media revealed that the new oxygen APP merchants were involved in selling illegal drugs and "Beautiful Diary" falsified reviews, which pushed the new oxygen that was just listed to the forefront. In response, New Oxygen has set up an internal investigation team and taken off the shelves of related institutions. For the medical beauty diary, New Oxygen will launch face recognition technology to further improve the platform's audit capability.
The new oxygen event only revealed the tip of the iceberg of medical and aesthetic industry chaos.
An industry insider said that some medical and aesthetic institutions attract customers at low prices, driving down the prices of botulinum toxin brands approved by the state, namely Hengli and Baotuoshi, and making money by introducing some "three no" products. There are also some small beauty agencies that purchase other botulinum toxins and then package them, taking advantage of some consumers' worship of foreign things to exaggerate the effect of botulinum toxins. Once problems occur, these medical and aesthetic institutions either change their appearance or run away.
According to the "Consumption Warning of Botulinum Toxin A for Injection" issued by the State Food and Drug Administration, there are two types of Botulinum Toxin A approved for marketing, namely domestic "Hengli" and imported "Baotuoshi". At present, the State Food and Drug Administration has only approved more than ten brands of hyaluronic acid for listing.
Behind the chaos, the investment in the medical and beauty industry has continued unabated. Internet giants such as Alibaba and JD have entered the industry, and industry leaders have continued to raise funds: in August 2017, Yuemei completed a round C financing of 80 million yuan; In July 2018, GenMei announced to complete D1 round financing of 50 million dollars; In March this year, Meibei announced the completion of tens of millions of RMB B+round financing; On May 2, New Oxygen landed on NASDAQ. According to the report of China Medical Beauty O2O Market Analysis released by Deloitte in September 2018, the annual scale of China's medical beauty market is expected to reach 481 billion yuan in 2022.
"New drugs in old bottles"
An insider in the medical beauty industry told the People's Daily Online venture capital channel that some beauty salons without injection qualification would inject medical beauty drugs to customers, but they could not show the drug approval documents. Some small workshops of "three no" medical and aesthetic drugs also have stores on Taobao. The home page mainly promotes non-invasive beauty products, but when chatting privately, they sell products that have not been registered and approved by the state.
According to insiders, the People's Network Venture Capital Channel searched Taobao for a certain smear type beauty product, found some stores with low credit rating and sales, and randomly selected one of them named "Guangzhou Yuemei Electronic Technology" to track. When asked whether to sell botulinum toxin and hyaluronic acid, the shopkeeper proposed to add WeChat private chat. According to the information provided by the shopkeeper, the People's Daily Online venture capital channel added a WeChat signal called "AS Atomizer Products Factory Direct Marketing", and the WeChat owner recommended botulinum toxin and hyaluronic acid products named "Randy", claiming that the raw materials were imported from France, Then we will further "assemble" in "Guangzhou Yuemei Biotechnology Co., Ltd." to customize branded products and stick logos for customers. The price of "Randy" Botox is 280 yuan per set, and the price of "Randy" Hyaluronic Acid is 200 yuan per set, both of which start at 100 sets. Later, when asked by the VC channel of People's Daily Online in another identity, he said that the raw materials of "Randy" botulinum toxin and hyaluronic acid products were imported from Switzerland, and other situations were the same as before. The venture capital channel of people.com.cn did not find the brand "Randy" in the list of botulinum toxin and hyaluronic acid approved for listing published by the State Food and Drug Administration.
When the venture capital channel of People's Daily Online asked whether another Taobao company named "beauty product manufacturers sell directly" sold botulinum toxin and hyaluronic acid products, the shopkeeper proposed to add a WeChat signal named "Guangzhou Meiye cosmetic instrument source manufacturer". The WeChat host said that the state now has too strict control over botulinum toxin. For safety reasons, they only sell botulinum toxin products to regular customers, but can provide hyaluronic acid products. The raw materials are imported from South Korea, and then repackaged according to their operation methods and measurement standards to provide cartoning services. The price of one set of hyaluronic acid ranges from 50 to 1000 yuan, starting from 500 sets. During the inquiry, the person did not explain what brand this hyaluronic acid product is.
According to another insider working in the medical beauty industry, at present, medical beauty drugs on the market are divided into three categories: first, regular drugs, which have been approved by China's State Food and Drug Administration; Second, smuggled goods. For example, drugs with relevant certification and approval in South Korea, the United States and Europe have no problems in use in their home regions, but have not been approved by China's State Food and Drug Administration for listing; Third, fake goods are produced by enterprises without medical qualifications.
Luan Jie, vice president of the Plastic Surgery Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, said that drugs that did not comply with the approval process of national specialized medical institutions and the registration process of the State Food and Drug Administration were illegal drugs.
When asked about the low price botulinum toxin and hyaluronic acid products, the owner of a Taobao shop called "Guangzhou Aimei Needle free Atomized Micro finishing Products" said, "More than 200 yuan is not enough even for tariff. Why do you think it is an imported product? All the 'Randy' products circulating in the market are purchased from Guangzhou Yuemei Biotechnology Co., Ltd.". Because of the large sales volume of distributors, they created their own platform and sold it to beauty salons under a foreign name. "
"Those platforms send empty bottles to the factory without even sticking labels, and the factory directly ships them in cans, and then the platform attaches special customized product labels, and directly ships them to the beauty salon." "Guangzhou Aimei needle free atomized micro finishing products" The shopkeeper said, "So if you ask 'Randy' products online, the real manufacturer can't ask, because the same products can be changed to other names besides' Randy '. Many manufacturers customize the external packaging."
Du Tao, a senior personage in the medical beauty industry, introduced that some small beauty agencies purchase botulinum toxin other than "Hengli" and "Baotuoshi" and then package them, making use of Chinese people's worship of foreign things and false propaganda, such as exaggerating the effect in terms of maintenance time, postoperative recovery period, etc.
"It's easy to turn around when the ship is small. If something goes wrong, change your appearance and continue to work," Du Tao said. But now the risk is high, and some small organizations are less likely to use smuggled goods.
In 2016, the State Food and Drug Administration issued the "General Administration's Consumption Warning on Botulinum Toxin A for Injection", Lanzhou Institute of Biological Products designated 77 dealers in 29 provinces nationwide, and "Botox" designated 56 secondary dealers in 30 provinces nationwide.
The venture capital channel of People's Daily Online found that the "Guangzhou Yuemei Biotechnology Co., Ltd.", which was only responsible for production and research and development and mentioned in the above shopkeepers' conversation, was not included in the list of these dealers. Enterprise investigation data shows that the company's industrial and commercial information status changed from "in business" to "cancelled" on July 30, 2019.
According to the survey conducted by the People's Daily Online venture capital channel, most of the beauty agencies providing slimming needles on Taobao said that their own purchasing channels of Hengli and Baotuoshi were regular, but they refused to disclose the specific purchasing manufacturers on the grounds of involving trade secrets, so it was impossible to know whether the source of goods was the dealer designated by the state.
Taobao search results show that the price of 100 "Hengli" thin face needles ranges from 380 to 1500 yuan, and the price of 100 "Botox" thin face needles ranges from 688 to 4388 yuan.
"High incidence area" of medical accidents
"In case of an accident, the merchant promises to compensate 5 million yuan", and the owner of "Guangzhou Yuemei Electronic Technology" repeatedly guarantees, but the real case in reality is hard to say beautiful.
According to the statistics of China Business Industry Research Institute, in 2019, there were more than 10000 medical beauty institutions registered by the domestic health department, and less than 3000 plastic surgeons who had received formal training step by step and met the requirements of the Ministry of Health. The number of plastic surgeons per million people is 2.88, far lower than 20.88 in the United States and 17.54 in Japan.
Xiaoxue found a beauty hospital called "Taiyuan Yashilian Medical Beauty Clinic" through microblog in October last year, and then injected two kinds of hyaluronic acid, namely Korean Yiwan and French Sili, for one course of treatment, three injections for each course of treatment. Xiaoxue said, "I had a physical examination before the operation, but no blood was drawn, and finally I didn't get the physical examination report, so the doctor said that I could do it directly. It was originally said that the president gave me a call, but the day when the surgeon saw the doctor for the first time, it was a young doctor who gave me a call in a small room." After the injection of Korean Ewan Hyaluronic Acid, Xiaoxue's face appeared a lot of acne, It took more than a month to eliminate. She felt that the persistence of this hyaluronic acid was not good, so she injected France Silly hyaluronic acid in this hospital 10 months later with the recommendation of her friend. The injection of Korean Ewan Hyaluronic Acid Hospital collected a total of more than 8000 yuan from Xiaoxue and 10000 yuan from France Sili. However, France Sili hyaluronic acid is not included in the list of hyaluronic acid products approved for listing in China.
"Our goods are sold to some large beauty agencies, small beauty salons, agents and distributors," said the staff of "Guangzhou Meiye Cosmetic Instrument Source Factory".
"The sales volume of our products is very good. Beauty salons and registered plastic surgery hospitals pick up products from us. Smaller beauty salons directly sell the brand of 'Randy'. Large plastic surgery hospitals have their own brands. We are responsible for packaging their designated brands. Such designated brands need to pay more." The staff of "Guangzhou Yuemei Electronic Technology" introduced.
The People's Daily Online Venture Capital Channel found in the national enterprise credit information publicity system that although the "Taiyuan Yashilian Medical Beauty Clinic", which injected hyaluronic acid to Xiaoxue, has been registered, it has now been included in the abnormal operation list of the market supervision department, and is making a declaration of invalidation of its business license.
It is the consumers who pay for the medical beauty disorder.
According to media reports, in November 2010, Wang Bei, a "super girl", died unexpectedly at the age of 24 while undergoing cosmetic surgery in Wuhan Zhongpeng Plastic Surgery Hospital, because the cremation expert group could not determine the real cause of death; In January this year, a 19-year-old girl named Xiao Xia died of an accident while undergoing nose augmentation surgery in Guizhou Limekang Surgical Hospital. The hospital in question belongs to Guizhou Limekang Surgical Hospital Co., Ltd., a new third board company; On July 24 this year, the pharmaceutical company allergan recalled textured breast implants worldwide, which may lead to anaplastic large cell lymphoma. At present, 573 people worldwide suffer from this disease, 80% of whom have used the breast augmentation prosthesis, and 15 people died.
Luan Jie, Vice President of the Plastic Surgery Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, said that the injection of medical and aesthetic drugs such as botulinum toxin and hyaluronic acid is invasive medical behavior, that is, medical behavior that may cause trauma to the human body. Such medical behavior can only be operated by medical beauty institutions or public hospitals registered and certified by relevant national departments. Medical beauty institutions are different from ordinary beauty institutions. Ordinary beauty institutions can register with the local industrial and commercial department and generally provide non-invasive beauty services, such as massage SPA, and medical beauty institutions must register with relevant health departments for approval.
The complaints received by the National Consumer Association in 2018 showed that among the specific service complaints, the number of complaints about beauty and hairdressing services rose from the sixth place last year to the fifth place, following remote shopping, network access services, operational Internet services and mobile phone services.
The People's Daily Online venture capital channel combed the black cat complaint platform and found that among 505 medical and aesthetic complaints from January 2019 to July 2019, the largest proportion was refusal of refund, 167 in total; The second is fraudulent consumption or induced loans, totaling 112; The third is false propaganda, with 78 articles in total. In addition, the complaint areas are mainly concentrated in the first tier cities in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou and the economically developed coastal areas in the east.
Market competition and regulatory challenges
"The medical beauty market is really big, and it will grow bigger and bigger." Du Tao said that with the development of the Internet and the younger medical beauty consumers, APP has become an important channel for many medical and aesthetic institutions.
According to the Analysis of China's Medical Beauty O2O Market released by Deloitte in September 2018, the size of China's medical beauty market reached 192.5 billion yuan in 2017, and the compound growth rate of China's medical beauty market from 2013 to 2017 was about 22.0%. From 2018 to 2022, it is expected to grow at an annual compound growth rate of 20.1%, and it is expected to reach 481 billion yuan in 2022.
Such a huge market naturally attracted the attention of giants.
Ali and JD have entered the Internet medical beauty market in succession: the beautiful artifact signed the agreement on the settlement of Tmall medical beauty platform, and JD and Yuemei reached a strategic cooperation. Existing products in the industry have also begun to finance frequently.
Venus, the founder of New Oxygen, also raised his hope for the future in the interview. "The biggest value of BAT is the platform and traffic. I can integrate all the resources of medical institutions and cooperate with their traffic platform." He said that it is equivalent to becoming their supply chain.
Du Tao expressed that, APP has become an important channel for medical beauty institutions to attract customers and participate in sharing, but the online platform is only responsible for marketing but not for checking, so some medical beauty institutions recruit customers online at low prices, make false propaganda, attract customers offline, and then promote expensive projects.
What worries Du Tao is that the Yimei APP will eventually be launched, which is more like a "cat and mouse" game for regulators.
Du Tao gave an example to illustrate the complexity of the industry: no cosmetic ultrasonic scalpel has been approved in China, but the ultrasonic scalpel is one of the most popular instruments in dermatology in the medical and aesthetic industry. Luan Jie explained that no organization applied for approval of beauty ultrasonic knife products. Any kind of medical device can be approved for marketing only after being strictly tested by the relevant national drug supervision department to ensure its safety and effectiveness, which is a costly and time-consuming process. Dealers are often unwilling to make such a large investment. In addition, there are illegal channels to supply this cosmetic ultrasonic scalpel, so there is no approved cosmetic ultrasonic scalpel appearing in the market in China.
Behind the medical and aesthetic chaos, there is also the situation that the market demand has not been met. Wang Yue, a senior cosmetic enthusiast, said that there are too few medical beauty injection products approved in China. She usually goes abroad to inject some products that are not approved in China, such as South Korea or Europe. These products are legal abroad.
In the communities of medical beauty e-commerce platforms such as New Oxygen, Genmei and Yuemei, the venture capital channel of People's Daily Online found similar information such as "going to South Korea for cosmetic surgery", "going to South Korea for cosmetic surgery to provide hotels and airline tickets to contact WeChat".
The market is also affected by other factors. According to China Medical Beauty Market Insight (2018) published by Yuanzhuo Consumer Industry Research Center, there is no authoritative and professional medical beauty accident certification agency in China at present. In terms of industry self-discipline, the foreign medical beauty market is generally managed by industry associations. However, there are many associations related to the Chinese medical beauty industry, including the Plastic Surgery Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, the Medical Aesthetics and Beauty Credit Association of the Chinese Medical Association, and the Chinese Physician Branch. All associations lack unified management.
In fact, market supervision is not without rules to follow. As early as 2012, Beijing issued the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Administrative Measures of Beijing Medical Beauty Service, which regulates the hierarchical management of Beijing medical beauty institutions and the training conditions for professional institutions. This is the first local management method of the medical beauty service industry in China, setting a model for local industry supervision.
Zhu Wei, an expert member of the Sharing Economic Work Committee of the China Internet Association and deputy director of the Communication Law Research Center of the China University of Political Science and Law, said that the corresponding laws are relatively perfect, for example, the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China, the Interim Measures for Internet Advertising Management, and the Measures for Medical Advertising Management have made provisions on medical advertising, Point out that the effectiveness and safety of products shall not be asserted or exaggerated; In addition, the E-Commerce Law also stipulates that e-commerce operators shall not fabricate transactions, fabricate user evaluations, and delete consumers' evaluations of goods sold or services provided on their platforms.
Punishment cases are not uncommon. On June 18, the National Health Commission replied on the issue of "progress and effectiveness in the special treatment of illegal medical problems". From May 2017 to April 2018, the market supervision department inspected 29878 medical beauty advertisements, ordered 743 medical beauty advertisements to correct, 51 institutions closed down for rectification, investigated 251 illegal medical beauty advertisements, and confiscated 2.7 million yuan. Netcom and other departments checked 19612 pieces of information related to Internet medical beauty, ordered 77 pieces of information to be corrected, investigated 55 cases, and fined 300000 yuan.
The People's Network Venture Capital Channel searched Taobao with the keyword of "botulinum toxin" and selected several top beauty agencies to query in the national enterprise credit information publicity system. It was found that Beijing Kairunting Medical Beauty Hospital Co., Ltd. violated the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China by publishing illegal advertisements that had not been reviewed by medical advertisements since March 30, 2017 Article 46: On September 6, 2018, Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce Haidian Branch imposed a fine of 138454.44 yuan. On September 6, 2018, Anhui Victoria Plastic Surgery Hospital used advertising spokesmen on its website to publicize its medical services and promoted them through Baidu and 360, which constituted illegal advertising and was subject to administrative punishment by Hefei Administration for Industry and Commerce.
However, with the rise of mobile Internet, regulators are facing many challenges. Zhu Wei said that at present, the medical beauty industry uses social platforms to publish advertisements, such as WeChat, Weibo, Circle of Friends, live broadcast and other social platforms for online drainage. Offline sales and supervision become more difficult, which also makes it impossible for criminals. In addition, some Yimei e-commerce platforms failed to properly review the qualifications of these merchants, which also gave them an opportunity to "sell dog meat on sheep's head". The new oxygen event is a real example.
In Luan Jie's view, the medical and beauty market will eventually become orderly, and institutions that do not obey the rules will be eliminated. At present, a large number of medical and aesthetic institutions have been closed or closed down, which indicates that the whole industry is slowly purifying. In the end, it must be the professionals and institutions who abide by the rules, pay attention to technology, and strive for quality that can survive for a long time.
For the standardization of the medical and aesthetic industry, Luan Jie suggested that, first, medical and aesthetic institutions should operate in good faith and not rush for quick success and instant benefit; Second, the relevant regulatory authorities should crack down on the illegal beauty agencies and the unscrupulous manufacturers who resell medical and beauty drugs and instruments; Third, consumers should strengthen safety awareness; The media should also assist relevant departments in popularizing knowledge, so that there is no living space for "smuggled goods" and "fake goods".
(At the request of the interviewer, Du Tao, Wang Yue and Xiao Xue are pseudonyms.)
(Editor in charge: Huang Lingli, Cao Kun)
