Image source: Internet

How can the women's market be further expanded? Focusing on the "face" is crucial!

A survey targeting the European, American, and Southeast Asian markets shows that women aged 25-35 are willing to spend an average of 18%-22% of their monthly income on skincare and beauty, with high-income groups reaching up to 30%.

It is clear that when it comes to skincare, those willing to spend never hesitate.

The Cistto brand has seized on this psychological trend, focusing deeply on the women's skincare market and excelling in the niche category of makeup removal overseas.

In 2024, after launching on TikTok, Cistto achieved $400,000 in sales in just 43 days, with even Cardi B (American celebrity) recommending it!

Image source: Cistto official website

Cistto: From Local Dark Horse to Overseas Rising Star

According to information, in 2019, Chinese skincare brand Cistto was established in Beijing, entering the market with "sensitive skin efficacy skincare" as its focus.

Just two months after its founding, the brand launched its Tmall flagship store, established its own research center the following year, and quickly entered offline beauty chain channels.

Subsequently, Cistto leveraged content marketing on platforms like Xiaohongshu and Tmall to further expand its brand influence, gradually establishing a "sensitive skin-friendly" brand image domestically. By the end of 2020, its mask products ranked Top 3 in Xiaohongshu Mall's positive reviews list.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

However, as domestic skincare brands faced intensified homogenized competition, the brand noticed the gradual decline of domestic market traffic dividends and the emergence of growth opportunities in overseas markets.

Based on this, in 2024, Cistto chose TikTok US as a springboard, launching single-use makeup remover oil. This product precisely met the demand gap for portable makeup remover products in the European and American markets, achieving $400,000 in sales within just 43 days of launch and topping the platform's makeup remover category.

Thus, Cistto officially began its journey overseas.

Image source: Cistto

Deploying on TikTok, Seizing Timely Traffic

In the TikTok Shop ecosystem, a product's success often depends on its "content adaptability." According to platform data, hot-selling products can be roughly divided into three categories: "standard mind products," "seasonal festive products," and "content-featured products."

Cistto's single-use makeup remover oil is a typical example of "content-featured" products. Its differentiated design (such as portable capsule packaging and plant-based formulas) is visually presented, making it easy to attract users' attention and stimulate purchase desire in a short time.

Image source: TikTok

In its early TikTok operations, Cistto chose to quickly open up the market through "top influencer coverage + refined influencer cooperation."

When collaborating with influencers, Cistto creates 5 to 10 different creative versions for the same product, and analyzes each version's conversion rate and ROI through traffic testing.

For example, during Black Friday, beauty influencer @glossygurl posted a short video showcasing Cistto's makeup remover oil. The video focused on the "before and after makeup removal comparison," a high-conversion direction, combined with precise traffic placement, ultimately gaining 2.8 million views and generating over $30,000 in sales.

Image source: TikTok

After initially verifying the effectiveness of influencer sales videos, Cistto decided to seize the Christmas season's traffic and secured a collaboration with American celebrity Cardi B.

On December 27, 2024, Cardi B uploaded a makeup removal video. In the video, she personally tries Cistto's makeup remover oil, demonstrating and introducing its portability and quick makeup removal features to viewers.

One week after the video was posted, views exceeded 8 million, with 560,000 likes.

As of today, the video has surpassed 10.4 million views, with the long-tail effect still ongoing.

Image source: TikTok

Additionally, to fully leverage the celebrity traffic effect, the brand contacted 500 KOLs and KOCs before Cardi B's video went live, asking them to post interactive videos within three days after the video release to create secondary dissemination and spark discussion.

Image source: TikTok

This operational strategy ultimately pushed the #Cistto topic's exposure on TikTok to over 37 million, while its total merchandise transaction volume (GMV) achieved a 120% increase compared to the Black Friday peak.

Image source: Echotik

Of course, Cistto also built its own TikTok account matrix, opening about 8 accounts with clear division between video and live streaming accounts.

Currently, its main account @cistto has accumulated 30,400 followers, with an average view count of 29,400. The account's videos mainly showcase the product's unique convenience, highlighting the capsule makeup remover oil's differentiated image to attract traffic and precisely reach target consumers through product advantages.

Image source: TikTok

Their live streaming account @CisttoLive broadcasts at fixed times daily, with 14 live streams so far and an average of 2,000 viewers per session, bringing stable traffic exposure to the brand.

Image source: TikTok

Industry Tailwind: Structural Opportunities in the Global Skincare Market

Furthermore, Cistto's overseas success is also due to the continued growth and structural dividends of the global skincare market.

According to third-party platform data, in 2023, the global skincare market size reached $171.25 million, and is expected to grow to $251.09 million by 2031. Among these, the US market, which Cistto focuses on, has always held a dominant position, providing favorable conditions for its rapid rise overseas.

Image source: DATA BRIDGE

Conclusion

From the case of Cistto, there is still incremental space in the overseas skincare market.

At the same time, strong demand in emerging markets and the popularity of online consumption also provide brands with good opportunities to overtake competitors on curves.

At such a juncture, Chinese brands seeking to enter overseas markets need not only precise product selection and channel matching, but also to make good use of overseas social media like TikTok and play the content marketing card well.

The overseas market never lacks opportunities; what it lacks are Chinese brands that dare to break out of the red ocean and move the world with products and stories!

(Note: The information in this article is compiled from various public reports and third-party data platforms. Actual conditions are subject to official releases.)