BeautyisbigbusinessinChina.Thecountry’scosmeticsmarketi...

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Beauty is big business in China. The country’s cosmetics market is worth $26 billion a year, making it the third-biggest in the world. Euromonitor, a research firm, believe it will grow 8% each year from now to 2017.

It would seem surprising, then, that some of the world’s best-known brands are giving up on such an attractive market. This week L’Oreal of France, the world’s biggest cosmetics firm, said that it will stop selling its Garnier line of beauty products in China. This came on the heels of an announcement by Revlon, an American rival, that it would leave the country altogether.

L’Oreal insists that this is not a step back from the Chinese market, of which it commands an 11% share, but rather a shift in strategy. It says it will henceforth concentrate on selling Chinese consumers it’s L’Oreal Paris and Maybelline New York lines. Revlon has done rather less well in China, which accounts for a tiny share of its global revenues. It is said to have suffered a big fall in sales in recent months and blames this on a slowing Chinese economy.

A few years ago, when China’s annual GDP growth was in double digits and its consumers had barely begun to fill their repressed desire for foreign luxury, the firms that sold it set themselves ambitious targets. Now China is coming to resemble a more normal emerging market: still with much potential for growth, but with no guarantee that every fancy foreign product entering it will get a piece of the action. Consumers are becoming more sophisticated, and are increasingly unwilling to pay extra money for all but the very best brands.

At the same time costs are high. Wages for “beauty assistants” and other saleswomen are rising at double-digit rates annually. Marketing in such a huge and diverse country, are complex. To cap it all, Chinese cosmetics firms are quickly catching up with the foreign ones.

As the costs rise and the growth slows, L’Oreal and Revlon are unlikely to be the last foreign cosmetics firms to think again about their ambitions in China.

63. Which statement is true about China’s cosmetics market?

A. It is worth $26 million a year.

B. It is growing at a rate of 8% each year.

C. China’s domestic brands have defeated foreign brands overwhelmingly.

D. China’s cosmetics market is the third-biggest in the world.

64. The underlined phrase “came on the heels of” (Para.2) is closest in meaning to ____________.

A. followed B. affected by C. caught up with D. was prior to

65. Why did some world’s famous cosmetics brands change their strategy in China?

A. Because L’Oreal commands a share of 11%, leaving little potential for other brands.

B. The costs are high and China’s economic growth is slowing down.

C. Chinese consumers began to fill their repressed desire for foreign luxury.

D. There is limited potential for development in China’s cosmetics market.