Health statistics show nearly 95 million Chinese suffer from obesity and at least 480 million people are overweight.  The prevalent rate of obesity and overweight is high and continues to rise in wealthy major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

According to local press reports, the Chinese weight-loss market was around CNY 8.2 billion in 2006, and it had been growing at an annual rate of 16% in average. The size of the market is estimated to be at least CNY 9.0 billion.

There were 915 weight-loss products on the Chinese market in 2006. Three types of weight-loss products, namely weight-loss drugs and healthcare products, external use weight-loss products with special cosmetic registration, and weight-loss/body shaping devices, accounted for 79%, 9% and 12% of the total market respectively. This article will concentrate on weight-loss drugs and healthcare products exclusively.

The Chinese weight-loss market shows a strong seasonal pattern. Sales of weight-loss products is concentrated in the summer season, and winter usually has the lowest sales of the year. This pattern was especially obvious in 2006.

Different from many other categories of drug products, the Chinese weight-loss market is dominated by retail pharmacy sales. The market share of traditional Chinese medicines and health food products had been growing and dominated this market in 2006. 

Leading Western medicines for weight loss, such as Sibutramine and Orlistat, used to control 72% of the Chinese weight-loss retail pharmacy sales. In 2006, however, the same market share fell to only 33%. The drop in sales of Western medicines for weight loss was primarily due to the fear of adverse drug reactions by Chinese consumers, who tend to have strong faith in traditional Chinese medicines and health food products for their fewer side effects.

China has more than 2,000 manufacturers of weight-loss medicine and health food products. The competition among these manufacturers has been increasingly intensive, and they often resort to price wars as a means to increase market shares, thus driving down profit margin of the sector as a whole. Few local companies have developed capabilities for innovative R&D, therefore leading to a shortage of new products. 

A recent market survey published in Pharmaceutical Economic Information, a local pharmaceutical industry journal, indicates following consumption patterns of weight-loss products in China.

Consumer demographics. The survey found females under the age of 35 dominating the consumption of weight-loss products in China. Consumers between the age of 18 and 22 tend to purchase lower-priced products. They are less loyal to brands, easily influenced by their peers and relatives, and tend to follow what is hot on the market. Consumers between the age of 23 and 35 usually have steady income and are more loyal to brands, and they are more fashion conscious.

The following chart shows the market shares of different age groups.

The importance of brand. 91.6% of the survey participants indicate that they choose weight-loss products with well-known brand name and good “words of mouth”, and only 8.4% said they don’t care about brands and will try products with little brand recognition.

Promotional channels. Consumers receive information about weight-loss products mostly from TV commercials. Although they resent high-frequency TV commercials of such products, 43% of female survey participants say they have “the urge to lose weight” every time they view weight-loss TV commercials. The following findings were developed by the survey about the promotional channels preferred by consumers and their existing information channels.

Preferred body parts for weight loss. It was found by the survey that most consumers are bothered by their specific body parts that are fat or over-weight.  More than 60% of the survey participants say their stomach is the most desirable place they want to be slim, while some others hope their thigh and waist are slimmer.  The survey also discovered that males are more interested in reducing the size of their stomach, while females focus more on their thighs and hip.