Beauty Trends: How Do Consumers Choose Sunscreen Products in the Hot Summer?

Summer is coming, it's time to play games with the sun! It is certainly fun to go to the beach with a few close friends to bask in the sun and participate in outdoor activities, but the summer sun is particularly "violent". If you are not careful, not only will you get tanned and sunburned, but the strong ultraviolet rays will also accelerate skin aging and even increase the risk of skin cancer. To protect the skin from ultraviolet rays, many people will apply sunscreen before going out, but there are so many sunscreen products on the market that it is hard to know how to choose. Many consumers will use online reviews as a reference before purchasing.

uMax Data focuses on the Internet big data from April 23 to May 23 this year, and uses social listening to analyze netizens' preferences for sunscreen products from major social media and forums. From the data, it can be seen that the brand, function, type, etc. of the product are the focus of netizens' discussions.

Product freshness is the most concerned

Figure: Consumers dislike sticky textures and seek products with high freshness

The most mentioned words in the overall discussion included “moisturizing,” “refreshing,” “sensitive,” and “waterproof.” Hong Kong's summers are more humid, and consumers tend to look for "refreshing" sunscreen products and are more disgusted with sticky, stuffy products. In addition, some consumers said that if the product can "keep moisturizing and moisturizing, no longer afraid of the embarrassing situation of stuck powder and powder loss appears", reflecting the makeup habit of women mainly worried that sunscreen products will affect makeup.

Some consumers with sensitive skin are worried about skin sensitivity, acne and dark spots after using the product. There are also consumers who love water sports looking for “waterproof” products.

Sunscreen is still the mainstream

Figure: Cream texture is the most discussed

In terms of product types, consumers are more interested in sunscreen lotion and sunscreen cream. In addition, there has been a lot of discussion about sunscreen sprays that are advertised as easy to use. It is worth noting that in addition to pure sunscreen products, in recent years many brands have launched skin care products and cosmetics with sunscreen ingredients, such as sunscreen essence and sunscreen foundation, which are advertised as having multiple functions and are also favored by consumers.

Figure: Consumers prefer products that are “waterproof”, “refreshing” and “moisturizing”

Consumers have different requirements when choosing sunscreen products, with more people preferring "waterproof", "light" and "moisturizing" products. In addition, Hong Kong’s summers are hot and humid, which can easily cause skin problems such as eczema and allergies. Therefore, the ingredients of the products are also taken seriously. Such consumers tend to seek sunscreen products with natural ingredients and mild formulas. In addition, as Hong Kong people’s environmental awareness increases, many people will pay attention to whether the products contain substances that are harmful to the environment. Therefore, there is a certain market for “ocean-friendly” and “coral-friendly” formulas.

Japanese brands are more popular among Hong Kong people

Figure: Two of the top three brands are Japanese brands

In terms of brand discussion, consumers have a greater interest in Japanese brands. Among the top three brands with the highest popularity values, the first and third are both from Japan. Bioré, which topped the list, hired a number of influencers and artists to promote its new product, bringing its popularity value to 2,278. The third place goes to ANESSA, a sunscreen brand under Shiseido. On May 17, the brand collaborated with cosmetics retailer Sasa to hold a prize game on Sasa's Facebook page, inviting participants to share their favorite ANESSA products and the reasons why. The third place is the American brand Mentholatum.

Photo: DR.WU focuses most on moisturizing

The top three brands each have their strengths, many consumers praised the waterproofness of ANESSA products, that its "waterproof and sweat-resistant can reduce the number of rubbing", "water is not afraid ..."

Internet celebrities have good publicity effects

Figure: Internet celebrities’ IG promotion is more popular than celebrities

Many brands invite celebrities or internet celebrities to promote their products. Japanese brand Bioré recently invited several influencers to promote its latest sunscreen products, including Ah Bing and Tong Tong, members of the online creative team Xiao Shu Qie, as well as radio DJ Ah Zheng and artist Hillary Lau Liu Peiheng. The promotional posts of the four on social media have received a lot of attention, among which Ah Bing’s Instagram post ranked second on the KOL ranking list with a popularity value of 776. The popularity of A Bing, Tong Tong and A Zheng are all higher than that of Ivy So, the spokesperson for another brand and a member of the girl group Collar. This shows that the influence of internet celebrities cannot be ignored.

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uMax Data Technology Limited, founded in Hong Kong in 2016, is an innovative technology company driven by artificial intelligence and data. uMax Data offers a variety of SaaS products and solutions, including Social Intelligence Platform (SIP), on-premises AI server, social listening and online alert systems, all-in-one intelligent research and event management platform, AI search engines, social intelligent customer service platforms, AI Agents and chatbots, brand public opinion insights, social media risk management, and multimodal data processing and digital upgrading solutions. These are collectively known as "Social Intelligence." These products not only enhance enterprise productivity and efficiency but also help businesses make more informed decisions.

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