Because of the breakthrough in acoustic wave technology, the manufacturing cost of sonic electric toothbrushes has reduced significantly. Domestic brands have seized this opportunity and are using e-commerce channels to promote products and dominate the Chinese toothbrush market, the news portal jiemian.com reported.
A report, released by Tmall - Alibaba's e-commerce platform - shows that Chinese people are buying more electric toothbrushes, and from this January to April, the number of consumers buying electric toothbrushes at the Tmall increased by 175 percent, compared with that in the same period last year.
The Tmall report found that women and young consumers are much more interested in electric toothbrushes. Since 2019, female consumers accounted for 65 percent of total consumers purchasing electric toothbrushes and young people born after 1995 bought 40 percent.
Market research company Mintel also released new data which shows that China's dental cleaning market grew steadily from 2013 to 2018, with an average compound annual growth rate of eight percent. The combined annual growth rates of mouthwash and oral cleaning items during 2013-2018 were 21.4 percent and 19.6 percent respectively. Sales in the oral cleaning market are expected to grow at an annual compound growth rate of 7.6 percent from 2018 to 2023, reaching 531.07 billion (US$77.1 billion) yuan by 2023.
In addition to the increasing awareness of dental health, the popularization of electric oral care products not only brings more advanced functional effects, but also improves the quality of life, Zhou Wenqi, an analyst from Mintel, told the press.
According to the Mintel research, one of main reasons why consumers choose electric toothbrushes is the better cleaning effect.
Notably, originally overseas electric toothbrush brands, like Philips, Procter & Gamble and Panasonic, dominated China’s market, but in certain markets cheaper Chinese domestic brands are proving more popular.
Because of lower price, domestic brands have greater market share in third- and fourth-tier cities. Tmall’s report shows that in the past four months in 2019, the number of consumers using electric toothbrushes in small cities increased by 228 percent year-on-year, and they accounted for 44 percent of the total consumer population.
Despite the optimistic sales growth of electric toothbrushes in recent years, brand makers are still facing the challenge of persuading consumers to change their cleaning habits and improving the popularity of electric toothbrushes, if homemade electric toothbrushes want to maintain sustained growth and dominate the market.
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