Winona / Bettaway - Building the First Cosmeceutical Stock from Dermatological Clinical Endorsements

Origin

Guo Zhenyu previously worked at Dianhong Pharmaceutical managing Kangwang Shampoo, giving him a deep understanding of the clinical value of dermatologist prescriptions. After leaving Dianhong in 2010, he predicted that consumer demand for functional skincare would shift from conceptual marketing to clinically validated products. Leveraging Yunnan's rich plant resources (purslane, green thorn fruit), he partnered with Professor He Li's team at the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University to validate products starting from dermatological clinics—pioneering a unique hospital-first, market-later route unlike any other cosmetics brand at the time.

Milestones

Turning Points

• The 2011 decision to bypass the mass cosmetics route in favor of entering the dermatology departments of tertiary grade-A hospitals for clinical validation, utilizing academic papers and dermatologist prescriptions to build a brand trust barrier.
• The 2014 pivot from pure hospital channels to online e-commerce. Despite early extremely low conversion rates and serious internal divisions, it ultimately leveraged the social media topic dividend for sensitive skin after 2017 to achieve explosive growth, tripling revenue in three years.
• The post-IPO period in 2021 when market capitalization briefly topped 160 billion yuan, followed by the market's realization of single-brand reliance and failed multi-brand incubation, leading to a continuous stock price correction exceeding 60%.

Failures & Pitfalls

• During the early online e-commerce phase from 2014 to 2016, consumer awareness of the cosmeceutical concept was low, leading to low conversion rates, consecutive departures of two marketing directors, and a temporary halt in online operations.
• During the 2018 Singles' Day event, core blockbuster items were out of stock for over two months, exposing major shortcomings in supply chain management with estimated direct losses exceeding 50 million yuan.
• In 2022, the multi-brand strategy stalled as Winona Baby generated under 100 million yuan, falling far short of the 300 million yuan target and failing to effectively diversify single-brand risk.
• In 2024, during independent offline store expansion, monthly revenue for some stores failed to reach half of expectations, meaning the single-store model was unproven and offline channel investment was severely misaligned with output.

Core Data

• 2020 revenue：Approx. 2.6 billion yuan (public data basis, independent verification unverified)
• 2020 net profit attributable to shareholders：Approx. 540 million yuan (public data basis, independent verification unverified)
• 2020 gross margin：Approx. 78% (public data basis, independent verification unverified)
• 2021 revenue：Approx. 4 billion yuan (public data basis, independent verification unverified)
• Peak market capitalization：Approx. 160 billion yuan (public data basis, independent verification unverified)
• Winona brand revenue share：Over 97% (public data basis, independent verification unverified)
• Online channel revenue share：Over 80% (public data basis, independent verification unverified)
• 2023 revenue：Approx. 5.5 billion yuan (public data basis, independent verification unverified)
• 2023 growth rate：Under 15% (public data basis, independent verification unverified)
• Team size：Approx. 2,500 people (public data basis, independent verification unverified)
• IPO issue price：47.33 yuan per share (public data basis, independent verification unverified)
• First-day IPO surge：Approx. 227% (public data basis, independent verification unverified)

Competitors / Peers

Bettaway's major competitors in the functional skincare track include Giant Biogene's Colglem (centered on recombinant collagen, with 2023 revenue around 3.0 billion yuan and rapid growth), Forgez (starting from medical device masks, with 2022 revenue exceeding 1.8 billion yuan), Bloomage Biotech (the hyaluronic acid industry chain leader, with multi-brand functional skincare matrix annual revenue exceeding 6.0 billion yuan), Proya (a mass skincare giant with 2023 revenue exceeding 7.0 billion yuan, which launched the Power Series to enter the sensitive skin track), and international brands like L'Oréal's La Roche-Posay and SkinCeuticals. Among them, Giant Biogene and Forgez erode the sensitive skin market through low-pricing strategies and medical device registration endorsements, directly impacting Winona's pricing system, while international brands hold academic reputation and channel advantages in the high-end functional skincare market.