China has yet to produce a retailer with the authority, bargaining power, and brand aggregation capabilities of Sephora, Space NK, or Ulta Beauty. The reasons are structural, historical, and deeply linked to how China’s beauty economy developed.

The absence of subscription models in China is not due to technological limitations or lack of platform capability. Instead, it is rooted in deep structural differences: ● China skipped credit cards ● Consumers distrust auto-pay ● Brand loyalty is low ● Promotions dominate shopping behavior ● Consumers prefer high control and flexibility

The AI platform Doubao (豆包), developed by ByteDance, has begun seamlessly connecting user queries with direct shopping links on its parent short-video platform Douyin (抖音, the Chinese Tik Tok), delivering a new model for beauty-commerce integration.

In China’s hyper-competitive consumer market,  price wars  are no longer isolated incidents—they are now business as usual. In the...