In the fiercely competitive beauty market, the concept of "low-carbon and environmental protection" has become popular: whether it is the growing demand of consumers, the introduction of relevant laws and regulations in various countries, or the follow-up of domestic and foreign giants, they are all pushing the beauty industry towards a new trend of green and sustainable development.
When it comes to daily beauty and cosmetics products, on the one hand, "pure beauty" with natural, safe and environmentally friendly ingredients is becoming more and more popular among consumers; on the other hand, the use of recyclable materials and reusable environmentally friendly packaging is becoming the common choice of more and more brands.
Insighting into the new business opportunities contained in this trend, Zhongshan Lianchang Spray Pump Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Lianchang"), a leading packaging material company, has laid out relevant patent technologies in advance. After 7 years of research and development, it finally launched an innovative environmentally friendly all-plastic pump in 2022 that is convenient for overall recycling and more environmentally friendly. It has become the first packaging material company in the industry to master the core patent of this product and successfully promote it to commercial use. At present, the patent has covered the all-plastic pump and its spring accessories, and has successfully obtained invention patent authorization both at home and abroad, using interlocking patents to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the company. All patents have obtained international patent search FTO certification.
In the past two years, Lianchang has comprehensively promoted and enriched recyclable packaging, with more than 40 all-plastic packaging-related patents, and the all-plastic pump products have been updated to the fifth generation, covering its entire product line of daily chemicals, skin care, etc. More importantly, with the advantages of scale and digital production management, Lianchang has gradually "brought down" the price of all-plastic pumps, making them increasingly popular products for customers.
At the same time, Lianchang's all-plastic pump business has also experienced exponential growth, with annual revenue exceeding RMB 100 million. As the market size continues to expand, its costs are expected to further decrease, helping all-plastic packaging materials to move towards a broader commercial blue ocean.
1.Revenue exceeded RMB 100 million, and the all-plastic pump business showed exponential growth
Against the backdrop of sluggish consumption and pressure on overall market growth, the "low-price involution" in the beauty industry has intensified over the past one or two years. Overcapacity and reduced orders have become the pain points for many upstream packaging material manufacturers, and the industry is undergoing a new round of reshuffle.
In contrast, Lianchang still maintains a rapid growth trend. Ge Hong, director of Lianchang Marketing Center, said that data from the first half of 2024 showed that the company's sales increased by about 30% year-on-year, and sales of various categories showed a rapid growth trend. The long queue of recruitment teams at the company's gate also confirmed this.
In addition to the rapidly growing order volume, what is even more gratifying is that the sales of its innovative environmentally friendly packaging material, all-plastic pumps, have seen exponential growth, with more and more well-known domestic and foreign cosmetics brands choosing all-plastic pumps. According to Ge Hong, last year, sales of all-plastic pump-related products accounted for nearly 8% of the company's overall revenue. According to preliminary estimates based on Lianchang's annual revenue of more than 1 billion yuan, the all-plastic pump business alone has contributed more than 100 million yuan to the company in one year, which is equivalent to the scale of several medium-sized packaging material factories, and is of great quality.
This year, the sales revenue of this business is expected to further expand. Many domestic and foreign daily chemical giants are negotiating with Lianchang on cooperation in converting traditional pump heads to all-plastic pumps. Currently, the production capacity is gradually saturated, and many production lines are running at full capacity. New equipment and production lines are also being developed at an accelerated pace to meet the growing market demand.
The rapid growth of the all-plastic pump business is due, on the one hand, to the increasingly popular concepts of environmental protection and sustainable development, and on the other hand, to Lian Chang's efforts to continuously improve the quality of all-plastic pumps. Ge Hong said that in terms of consumer experience, the experience of many all-plastic pump products is no less than or even exceeds that of traditional pump heads.
More importantly, with the advantage of scale, the price of Lianchang's all-plastic pumps has been getting closer and closer to that of traditional pump heads. Previously, although the concept of all-plastic pumps was good, they were somewhat embarrassing. The high cost was the main factor restricting large-scale procurement. The price was several times higher than that of traditional pump heads, which often discouraged many customers. All-plastic pumps also became a cake that many packaging material manufacturers could "see but not eat".
As the company with the largest production capacity and one of the top three revenue in the global pump head industry, Lianchang relies on its scale advantage and actively uses digital management systems and intelligent production technologies to significantly reduce management and production costs, lower the price of all-plastic pumps, and attract many mid- to high-end brand customers to place orders.
"Compared with our peers, better quality and lower prices make our products very competitive in the market." Lianchang is confident about the development prospects of the all-plastic pump business. As the order scale grows, the cost of the all-plastic pump will be further reduced. "In the future, we plan to make the price of this product consistent with that of traditional pump heads."
2.More than 40 patents, "all-plastic" packaging covers the entire product line
Price advantage alone is not enough to become a market leader. Patent layout and R&D capabilities are also the core barriers of Lianchang All-Plastic Pump.
As an industry leader that first deployed environmentally friendly and recyclable packaging materials, Lianchang became the first company to apply for and obtain the invention patent for an all-plastic pump as early as 2017, and in 2022 successively obtained relevant recyclable certifications such as the US APR and the European RecyClass; in the same year, Lianchang's R&D team conducted thousands of tests and jointly developed and launched the first commercial all-plastic pump product with L'Oreal.
Unlike traditional pump heads that contain metal springs and glass balls and need to be disassembled for recycling, all-plastic pumps use 100% plastic materials. After consumers finish using daily chemical products, the pump heads can be directly recycled as a whole, thereby increasing the recycling rate, reducing pollution, and saving energy and reducing emissions.
At the same time, in terms of product experience, Lianchang also subdivides usage scenarios and launches products that meet consumer needs. For example, one of the all-plastic pumps has a suction function, that is, after the consumer presses to take out the paste, the excess paste will automatically be sucked back, which is convenient and hygienic, and also saves product usage; the other double-chamber high-pressure pump has a higher pumping volume and meets more usage scenarios.
Not only that, Lianchang has also simplified its product structure through continuous technological improvements and upgrades, so that cosmetics using all-plastic pumps can compete with products using traditional pump heads not only in terms of filling production efficiency but also in terms of service life.
"Innovation that can truly bring economic value to the industrial chain is innovation with vitality," said Ge Hong. The same is true for all-plastic pumps. Only by ensuring the experience and reducing the cost pressure of brands using sustainable packaging materials can the market share of all-plastic pumps be expanded and the beauty industry can be jointly promoted to develop in an environmentally friendly and sustainable direction.
The research and development of all-plastic pumps has not stopped. Last year, Lianchang launched the first set of "All-Plastic Pump" group standards in China. This year, Lianchang has more than 40 patents related to all-plastic packaging, and its all-plastic pump products have been updated to the fifth generation, including waterproof and overflow-proof all-plastic pumps, all-plastic foam pumps, back-suction and drip-proof all-plastic pumps, all-plastic oil pumps, small-caliber all-plastic pumps, all-plastic lotion pumps, all-plastic spray pumps, small lotion all-plastic pumps and other subcategories, covering almost the entire product line of daily chemicals, personal care, skin care, etc.
In the vent of the wind, it is inevitable that there will be mud and sand. Since the launch of Lianchang's all-plastic pump, a large number of imitation products have appeared on the market. "Unauthorized imitation is actually an act of patent infringement," said Ge Hong. In order to effectively curb infringement, Lianchang will also take a series of actions in the future to make infringers bear the corresponding legal responsibilities.
3.The world's largest production capacity, all-plastic pumps have a promising future
"Fully plastic pumps currently account for less than 1% of the market share of the entire pump head industry, and the market potential is huge," Ge Hong told Cosmetics Watch. As relevant policies of various countries are gradually implemented, the fully plastic packaging industry will accelerate its development. For example, according to relevant European laws and regulations, if products cannot be fully plasticized by 2025, tariffs will be increased; by 2030, non-fully plasticized pump heads will not be allowed to enter the European market.
The broad prospects have also attracted many leading domestic and foreign packaging companies to join the market. Internationally renowned packaging companies such as Aptar and Berry Global have successively launched all-plastic packaging products to seize the "blue ocean". As one of the competitors, United Daily News is not inferior to them in strength.
Founded in 1994, Lianchang specializes in the research and development, production and sales of daily chemical lotion pumps, spray pumps, aerosol valves, skin care, cosmetics and other packaging materials. Its customers are mostly domestic and international brands such as Procter & Gamble, L'Oreal, Unilever, Blue Moon, and Liby. In the 30 years of development, Lianchang has continuously expanded its scale, introduced global advanced equipment, mechanical mold processing equipment, and has a group of outstanding professional and technical personnel and product development teams.
While accelerating its scale, CIMB is also actively laying out a broader global market. CIMB has established companies and factories in Zhongshan, Guangdong, Suzhou, Jiangsu, Thailand, Heshan, Guangdong, etc. This year, CIMB officially entered the American market, and its Mexican factory has successfully completed construction and is about to start production. So far, CIMB has laid out three branches and five factories around the world, further expanding its international market territory.
According to its relevant person in charge, the company now has more than 800 injection molding machines and more than 120 fully automatic installation lines, with a daily production capacity of 15 million sets of pump heads and 3 million sets of aerosol valves, an annual output of 5 billion sets of pumps and 1 billion sets of valves. Its daily production capacity of pump heads is far ahead of the industry, occupying about 30% of the global daily chemical products pump head market, becoming a "hidden champion" leading the industry's sub-sectors.
Even with its leading position, CIMB remains aggressive: by 2025, the company aims to make 50% of its products recyclable, and by 2030, 100% of its products recyclable.
Low carbon and environmental protection have become the consensus of the development of the global manufacturing industry, and recyclable and reusable environmentally friendly packaging materials will also become the standard of the beauty industry. Lianchang, which has core barriers in technology reserves, scale advantages in company size, and strategic advantages in global layout, will lead environmentally friendly and sustainable packaging materials to a broader market with the potential energy of the rapid growth of its all-plastic pump business.
