Category Ranking

Facial Cleanser · brand sales ranking

The largest and most contested facial-care category. In 2025 Douyin overtook Taobao with RMB 13.14 bn, and amino-acid surfactants became the default formulation.

RMB 21.1 bnCleanser GMV, 3 platforms

RMB 13.14 bnDouyin, +29% YoY

RMB 5.80 bnTaobao, −14% YoY

24.4% / 28.5%CR5, Taobao / Douyin

About this ranking: sources and method

Compiled by: VRBT editorial team. We sort and interpret only; all revenue, share and growth figures come from the reports cited below.
Source: Qingyan Intelligence　2025 China Cosmetics Yearbook — Tmall/Taobao Top 50 Cleanser Brands
Period: Jan–Dec 2025
Caliber: Tmall/Taobao figures are net sales after returns; Douyin, JD and Kuaishou are GMV. Beauty devices excluded. Brand sales refer to category-level turnover, not group revenue.
Ranking basis: Brands ranked by 2025 category sales in descending order, top 10 shown. Position reflects scale only — not growth or reputation.
Why this source: Platform heat lists show rank but not revenue, so they cannot be compared across brands. Qingyan's yearbook is one of the few public sources publishing complete category-level brand revenue plus average selling price, so it serves as the primary table.
Cross-check: Zhixing Consulting's 2025 cleanser report gives a Taobao top three of RMB 441m / 340m / 264m for freeplus, Clé de Peau and SUIKONE, versus 502m / 386m / 265m here. The gap comes from different reporting windows and returns treatment; the ranking order is identical.
Limitations: Third-party monitoring cannot be converted to reported financials. Offline counters, CS channels and cross-border are excluded. freeplus once exceeded RMB 1 bn in Taobao cleanser GMV in 2022; the table shows current-period scale only.

Tmall + Taobao · brand sales TOP10Full-year 2025

Rank	Brand	Sales	Share	ASP
1	freeplus	RMB 502m	—	¥95
2	Clé de Peau Beauté	RMB 386m	—	¥376
3	SUIKONE	RMB 265m	—	¥51
4	CeraVe	RMB 206m	—	¥96
5	HBN	RMB 158m	—	¥143
6	Curél	RMB 151m	—	¥101
7	SIMPCARE	RMB 151m	—	¥83
8	CHANEL	RMB 145m	—	¥477
9	UNISKIN	RMB 137m	—	¥128
10	C咖	RMB 134m	—	¥87

Douyin · brand sales TOP5Full-year 2025

Rank	Brand	Sales	Share	YoY
1	BUV	RMB 573m	8.5%	+103.1%
2	C咖	RMB 461m	6.9%	—
3	QINGYAN	RMB 382m	5.7%	+730.8%
4	KANS	RMB 278m	4.1%	—
5	OGANACELL	RMB 223m	3.3%	+1151.5%

What the numbers say

The two platforms tell opposite stories. On Taobao, 17 of the top 20 cleanser brands were still on the list in H1 2025, but 11 of them declined — Curél −32.9%, Dr.Alva −33.8%, L'Oréal −8.1%. Even freeplus, the amino-acid pioneer, has posted three consecutive years of double-digit decline. Only high-ticket or strong-efficacy players such as Clé de Peau (+28.5%), Ocean Supreme (+29.1%) and SK-II (+43.7%) grew.

Douyin runs on a different order: four of its top five were not in the top ten a year earlier. BUV took first place with RMB 573m and 8.5% share; QINGYAN grew 730.8%, OGANACELL 1,151.5%, while Sanshi, RNW and Meishi exceeded 1,000%. In a content-driven market, positions are re-shuffled every quarter.

Price bands explain the split. On Taobao, cleansers above RMB 300 grew more than 30% in H1 2025, while the RMB 100–200 band is held by foreign brands like CeraVe, Cetaphil and Curél; on Douyin the core band sits below RMB 50. Taobao sells brand premium, Douyin sells immediate value.

Practical takeaway: read the Taobao table for brand equity, the Douyin table for incremental growth. Do not blend the two.

Hero SKUs of ranked brandsplatforms do not disclose SKU sales, so no SKU ranking

Brand	Hero SKU	Note
freeplus	Mild Soap	Amino-acid benchmark; Kao reports 100m+ units sold globally
Clé de Peau Beauté	Clé de Peau Cleansing Cream	One of the highest average price points in the table
SUIKONE	Gentle Repair Cleanser	ASP around RMB 51, driven by repurchase
CeraVe	Foaming Facial Cleanser	Ceramide plus amino-acid formula, the RMB 100 band
Curél	Intensive Moisture Care Foam	Sensitive-skin entry SKU; Taobao sales fell over 30% in 2025
CHANEL	Mousse Douceur	ASP RMB 477, the prestige benchmark

Sources

Qingyan Intelligence　2025 China Cosmetics Yearbook — Tmall/Taobao Top 50 Cleanser Brands（Jan–Dec 2025）primary table
Zhixing Consulting　2025 Cleanser Category E-commerce Trends（2025）Douyin brand table, growth rates, channel size
iiMedia Research　2025 China Cosmetics Consumer Survey（2025）Usage and purchase-driver data

Compiled by the VRBT editorial team from third-party monitoring reports and publicly disclosed brand sales. No estimated or undisclosed figures are used. Every ranking states its original source, statistical caliber and limitations. Because platforms do not publish SKU-level sales, we do not rank individual products — only the hero SKUs of ranked brands are listed.