Proya’s domestic revenue declined as China’s beauty market consolidates
Proya Cosmetics will begin selling two namesake skin-care collections at 400 Ulta Beauty stores and on the retailer’s e-commerce platform in November, according to people familiar with the plans.
The Hangzhou, Zhejiang-based company has formalized a partnership giving it a major US retail channel as Chinese beauty labels seek to move beyond cross-border e-commerce and viral marketing to build a lasting overseas presence, the people said. Ulta, headquartered in Illinois, operates more than 1,500 US stores, making it one of the largest specialty-beauty retailers in the country.
The US push comes as competition at home has intensified. Proya’s first-quarter revenue fell 2.3% on the year, with net profit down 6.1%, as sales of its core brand came under pressure particularly on Alibaba’s Tmall platform, Jefferies analysts wrote in a recent note.
After more than a decade of rapid growth, China’s broader beauty industry is entering a period of consolidation, Jefferies said. Cosmetics sales rose 6.3% in the first half of 2026 from a year earlier, far outpacing China’s overall retail-sales growth of 1.3%.
Proya has already begun expanding overseas. Earlier this year, the company began stocking Proya-brand products at the Guardian health-and-beauty chain in Malaysia — the first time its namesake line had been carried at an outlet outside China — and it took a controlling stake in Flower Knows, a Chinese beauty brand with a growing presence in the United States.
Selling what the industry has begun calling “C-Beauty” against established Korean and Japanese cosmetics will not be straightforward, Jefferies cautioned. The firm’s analysts said the next phase of Chinese beauty brands’ overseas expansion will require building long-term brand equity through physical retail, compliance with local regulations and products tailored to local consumers.
Chinese brands are also still working to close a structural gap with their Korean counterparts, who benefit from consumer trust, product innovation, digital engagement and the cross-promotional reach of K-Pop and Korean dramas, the analysts wrote. Brand recognition, geopolitical tensions and regulatory compliance add to the obstacles, they said.