At the Australian Lifestyle Expo held recently in Guangzhou, leading brands of Australian cosmetics made inroads into the Guangdong market en masse, through the integration of resources.

There will be 10 Australian cosmetics specialty stores open in the province by the end of 2006.

At present, only a few Australian cosmetics brands are available in China, and these are not very well-known. The recent expo enabled more people to come into contact with Australian branded cosmetics.

What seemed to have driven interest at the show was the fact that Australian products heavily favoured the marketing of "natural" and "organic" elements as a medium for sales, given the alleged contamination of competing foreign brands by the unusually large content of chromium and neodymium.

Virtually all the products introduced to Guangzhou consumers at the expo were from first-line Australian brands. They included Dr Lewinns, which achieved widespread fame on a par with European and US brands in just eight years; VitaMan, which beat 80 world-class brands to become the fastest growing brand for men's skincare products last year, and Glamourflage, whose products have been hailed by some fashion magazines as "products no professional makeup artists could afford to miss".

Certain industry players agree that it is a little late for Australian brands to venture into the China cosmetics market because the high-end sector is already firmly in the hands of European and US brands. However, by making inroads en masse, Australian brands can make a larger impact and open the market more quickly. It is also much easier for a "cluster" of brands rather than single products to take on strong rivals in the marketplace.

Australian marketers chose Guangdong as their springboard because there is a huge demand in this province for cosmetics. The only apparent drawback has been its close proximity to Hong Kong, where many mainland consumers prefer going to buy Australian cosmetics.

According to Chen Danxia, general manager of Ousia, an agent for leading Australian cosmetics brands, the company only decided to embark on its Guangzhou venture after obtaining word from various manufacturers that prices would be the same for both the Mainland and Hong Kong.

VitaMan is the most eye-catching of the seven cosmetics brands launched in China at the moment. It is the first Australian company specialising in the production of skincare, hair care and spa products for men and is seen as among the best-selling brands in France in 2006.