{"id":10426,"date":"2022-06-16T07:30:01","date_gmt":"2022-06-16T07:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=10426"},"modified":"2025-04-23T09:39:47","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T09:39:47","slug":"how-a-british-skincare-brand-made-it-big-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/how-a-british-skincare-brand-made-it-big-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"How a British skincare brand made it big in China"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tom Pattinson speaks to Joy Isaacs, founder and CEO of Argentum Apothecary, to find out how changing the company’s China strategy \u2013 and offering a local company a minority stake \u2013 helped them make the most of their new found popularity in the market<\/h2>\n

Singer Faye Wong is one of China\u2019s most recognisable style icons. Her stratospheric rise in the 1990s as one of China\u2019s first musical superstars made her a household name. Decades after she first rose to fame, hundreds of millions of women across China have wondered how this woman in her early 50s has retained her youthful looks.<\/p>\n

All was revealed after her daughter posted a picture to social media of her mother\u2019s dressing table, featuring a mysterious elegant black jar. The little black jar contained an anti-ageing serum by boutique British skincare brand Argentum \u2013 and just like that, the company became something of an overnight success in China.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe have a really distinctive black shaped jar that really stood out in the photograph,\u201d explains Argentum\u2019s founder Joy Isaacs. \u201cSuddenly everyone was clamouring to get hold of this product,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Isaacs\u2019s company uses a patented combination of Silver Hydrosol and DNA HP (thus the Ag in the name) to create natural, restorative and super-hydrating anti-ageing skincare products. The brand has built a strong presence in China, where the demographic of luxury skincare spans a much broader age range, with more and more younger people investing in the future of their skin, says Isaacs. \u201cIn China, there is an understanding of silver and a focus on luxury skincare that delivers results. Our formulas score particularly high when targeting acne and blemishes which is a common skin concern in this part of the world.\u201d But the demand created by Wong\u2019s daughter\u2019s social media post took Isaacs by surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had two Chinese team members in London and Shanghai who were both helping us work with a number of different distributors in China, [but] it was very hard to align multiple distributors on different platforms and across different regions,\u201d explains Isaacs. This made it difficult to effectively manage the growth they were seeing.<\/p>\n

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Joy Isaacs, Founder and CEO, Argentum Apothecary<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cLarge online retailers and cross-border sellers would have as many as 200 authorised resellers, and multi-brand stores would have sub-distributors,\u201d says Isaacs. With so many different resellers, keeping up with pricing and offers was very challenging. Furthermore, UK or Europe-based retailers and distributors would resell to China too.<\/p>\n

Sometimes resellers would discount products, not only affecting pricing but also making it difficult to control brand image, a common concern for luxury brands. \u201cSome of our China distributors were investing tens of thousands into a campaign only for it to be undercut by external wholesalers, undermining the whole campaign,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

Eventually, after a number of meetings and working with one impressive distributor, they decided to create a more permanent partnership, selling a minority stake in the company. Having a local stakeholder means Isaacs and her UK team don\u2019t have to get bogged down navigating regulations and controlling pricing. What\u2019s more, now, \u201ceveryone is on the same train and heading in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n