China Bath, Shower and Bodycare Market Report 2026
2026-09-23T12:02:08+00:00
REP4E5B568A_6EE6_4D26_9B56_8A6EE65D26B1
3695
196376
[{"name":"Soap, Bath and Shower Products","url":"https:\/\/store.mintel.com\/industries\/beauty-personal-care\/soap-bath-shower"},{"name":"Market Intelligence Reports","url":"https:\/\/store.mintel.com\/report-type\/market-intelligence-reports"},{"name":"China","url":"https:\/\/store.mintel.com\/markets\/china-market-research"}]
Report
en_GB
With category usage already high, growth opportunities in bath and shower and bodycare increasingly come from meeting more specific needs, expanding existing usage and building value across categories. Zoey Song,…
China
Soap, Bath and Shower Products
simple
China Bath, Shower and Bodycare Market Report 2026
With category usage already high, growth opportunities in bath and shower and bodycare increasingly come from meeting more specific needs, expanding existing usage and building value across categories.
Pathway 1: strengthen reasons to choose bath and shower products
With a broad user base already in place, bath and shower products need stronger reasons to be chosen
Bath and shower products are more commonly used individually, although shared household use remains widespread
Graph 19: use of personal vs shared bath and shower products by age, 2026
Bath and shower product choices are not fixed, with seasonal changes driving widespread switching behaviour
Graph 20: seasonal use of bath and shower products, by gender and age, 2026
Skincare benefits and post-wash skin feel matter most when choosing products for different seasons, while sensory elements further strengthen differentiation
Graph 21: factors influencing the choice of bath and shower products by season, 2026
Fragrance is not the main factor driving seasonal product choices, but it has greater influence among younger consumers
Graph 22: factors influencing the choice of bath and shower products by season, 2026
From seasonal relevance and specific skin concerns to effortless experiences, bath and shower products can build clearer reasons to choose
Cooling sensations can be combined with specific occasions and care benefits to create a more complete seasonal proposition
Bath oils can move beyond broad moisturisation claims by strengthening relevance and specialist positioning
Oil-to-foam textures combine a nourished skin feel with familiar cleansing cues, making bath oils easier to adopt
Fine exfoliating particles and clearly defined occasions can broaden the everyday appeal of exfoliating body washes
Pathway 2: support sustained bodycare use
Bodycare has an established place in daily routines, but usage triggers and ease of use can be improved
Graph 23: regularity of bodycare product use, 2026
Graph 24: perceptions of ease of use of bodycare products, 2026.
Bodycare innovation can prioritise sensory appeal and convenience, then use specific occasions to define when products should be used
Graph 25: bodycare product concepts of interest, 2026
Interest in bodycare concepts varies across consumer groups, with women showing greater interest in fragrance and men in post-exercise care
Graph 26: bodycare product concepts of interest, by gender, 2026
Post-exercise care is better suited to targeted occasions, with stronger interest among 30-39s and higher-income consumers
Graph 27: bodycare product concepts of interest, by age and income level, 2026
Make bodycare part of everyday life by strengthening usage triggers and reducing effort
Morning and evening occasions can support different care needs, creating clearer usage triggers for bodycare
Post-exercise care needs clearly defined care tasks to create distinct product roles
Tools can simplify targeted application and provide clearer usage cues
Portable and targeted formats can expand bodycare into more incidental moments throughout the day
Pathway 3: unlock the value of bath and shower + bodycare synergies
The extensive overlap between bath and shower and bodycare users provides a basis for exploring cross-category synergies
Shower gels and body lotions are the most commonly used combination, while other pairings offer further opportunities for synergy
Graph 28: co-usage of bath and shower and bodycare products, 2026
Moisturisation and long-lasting fragrance are shared priorities, while exfoliation remains more closely associated with bath and shower products
Link categories through shared care goals to strengthen the overall positioning of sensitive skin ranges
Exfoliate first, then follow with targeted care, using differentiated benefits to strengthen the value of the combination
Address autumn and winter dryness with oil-based combinations that link cleansing with post-wash moisturisation
Use a hero product to target sports-related occasions, then expand into a cross-category care range
Fragrance can connect bath and shower + bodycare combinations, with fruity, citrus and herbal scents attracting relatively strong interest
Graph 29: fragrance preferences for fragranced personal care products, 2026
The ideal fragrance duration is concentrated between 12 and 47 hours, requiring bath and shower + bodycare combinations to balance scent continuity and layering
Graph 30: ideal fragrance duration for fragranced personal care products, 2026
Fragrance can create connections across bath and shower + bodycare combinations, from matching scents to layered pairings
NEW PRODUCT TRENDS
Shower products continue to dominate bath and shower launches, while bar soap gains a small share
Graph 31: share of bath and shower product launches by subcategory, 2023-26
Natural and moisturising claims lead launch communication, while targeted benefits continue to expand
Graph 32: top claims in bath and shower product launches, 2023-26
Gel remains the leading texture among bath and shower launches, while oil-based textures continue to gain share
Graph 33: top textures in bath and shower product launches, 2023-26
Established fragrance families continue to dominate, while occasion-led and thematic scents gain ground
Graph 34: top fragrance component groups in bath and shower product launches, 2023-26
Handcare gains share of bodycare launches, while general bodycare declines
Graph 35: share of bodycare product launches by subcategory, 2023-26
Bodycare launches continue to focus on moisturising and botanical/herbal claims, while more targeted care claims gain ground
Graph 36: top claims in bodycare product launches, 2023-26
Milk textures continue to dominate bodycare launches, while oil-based textures continue to gain share
Graph 37: top textures in bodycare product launches, 2023-26
Bodycare fragrances are becoming more diverse, with fantasy and outdoors-inspired fragrances gaining share
Graph 38: top fragrance groups in bodycare product launches, 2023-26
APPENDIX – MARKET SIZE AND FORECAST, RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
With category usage already high, growth opportunities in bath and shower and bodycare increasingly come from meeting more specific needs, expanding existing usage and building value across categories.
Zoey Song, Senior Analyst, China Insights
Market Definitions
This Report covers products in the bath, shower and bodycare categories.
Bath and shower products:
solid and liquid soaps, including soaps primarily used for handwashing and bathing, handwash products and no-rinse hand sanitisers/gels
shower products, including shower gels/body washes, shower liquids, shower mousses, body scrubs and bath oils
bath products, including bubble baths, bath liquids (including oils, milks and bath beads) and solid bath products (including bath salts, melts, tablets and powders)
Excludes:
facial cleansing products
bathing and shower accessories/tools
Bodycare products:
general bodycare products, including tone-up creams
hand and nailcare products
neck care products
footcare products
Excludes:
breast or intimate care products
products primarily intended for slimming, exfoliation, hair removal, sun protection or tanning
talcum powder, nail polish/manicure products, foot deodorants/foot powders/deodorising insoles, massage oils or calming essential oils
Market size is based on sales through all retail channels, including direct selling to consumers, but excludes the professional sector (such as beauty salons) and consumer-to-consumer channels (such as WeChat-based social sellers and Taobao individual sellers).
One of the biggest challenges we face is the need to get smart on a business or category real quick.
We are talking to clients who live and breathe their category every day and the expectation is that we will be able to get caught up very quickly, and bring the thinking that can help them.
We need to do that often in a matter of days, so it’s not a small ask. Mintel gives us a very articulate view of category conditions and does so at the speed we need it.
Jeff White, Business Development Director, Deutsch
Mintel helps us when we want to know something quickly – it provides fast answers to our questions. If we need to get a view of what’s going on in a particular market it’s very useful.
When carrying out background research, I find Mintel an excellent starting point.
The fact that it covers so many markets is a big plus for me– instead of having to buy specialist products in each area we are interested in, especially when we only require a brief view on a particular market, we can go to Mintel for help as a one-stop shop. I find Mintel a useful and valuable resource.
Ben Zeidler, Director - Research and Analytics, Tenth Wave
We utilize Mintel Reports, Trends and Comperemedia to mine for insights across the numerous business verticals that Epsilon serves, such as CPG, automotive, telecom, healthcare/pharma, retail and financial services.
By integrating Mintel insight into new business opportunities, we have been able to gain the competitive edge necessary to advance partnerships with global brands and key business players.
For our organization, it’s about depth and breadth. Having one without the other doesn’t enable success in our business.
Virginia Harvey, Secondary Research Manager, Epsilon
Mintel is really good for getting a handle on a particular category quickly. If we are working on a new business pitch in an area we don’t have much experience in, it’s a brilliant way to get up to speed with what’s going on, what’s changing and what the key trends are in any category.
It’s very rare now that anyone will plough through a 200-page report – that’s why the summaries are really useful. We know they are backed up by a lot of detail, so if you need to go into something in more depth you know the information will be all there for you.
Pauline Robson, Managing Partner, Mediacom
Working in a customer-obsessed organization means that data and insights have to be at our fingertips. Mintel’s reports help us support anecdotes with real quantifiable insights. The summary sections (which I really like) helps save time by giving a birds eye view of the content before spending time combing through the pages.
Our business review discussions are strengthened by the relevancy of the reports to help us better understand our customers. In addition, the customer service received from the team (especially in crunch periods) makes the process of understanding customer behavior even better.
We have such a great working relationship with Mintel on lots of different levels. As an insight partner, they have helped us to develop our business planning in specific categories as well as supporting our creative process but they’ve also been super helpful with facilitating our events in their inspirational offices near St Paul’s.
They’re an innovative company, with a client-focused team that always delivers.
Abby Carvosso, Group Managing Director, Bauer Media Group
At Jackman, we believe that powerful strategies are based on human insight. Mintel’s leading-edge reports and insights into consumer attitudes and behaviors are an important input as we develop and execute strategy.
Alana Gavin, VP Research and Insights, Jackman
We use Mintel Reports, mostly for financial services and ecommerce markets, plus a few retail and technology ones.
As a leading payments provider, we value additional insights into consumer behaviour, opinions and trends that are shaping the many different markets we operate in. Mintel is a very good and very quick way for us to obtain those insights.
We use Mintel to get a view on where a particular market is going, which can support us in product development and help us identify opportunities or indeed risks, it is a very useful barometer of a market’s potential.
Andrew Neeson, Market Intelligence Manager, VocaLink
We use Mintel to inform our thinking and reinforce strategy. If you’re presenting new ideas, it’s essential they are underpinned by robust data and evidence, and clearly rooted in fact.
Mintel gives us all that. It’s a great brand and one that is trusted by clients.
Marie Stafford, European Director, The Innovation Group, VML
We’ve found it so useful working more closely with Mintel. They helped support our recent flagship event for our top suppliers by providing a really unique viewpoint on the future of online retailing.
Nick Carroll from their Retail Team was also an excellent panelist, sharing useful and actionable consumer insights. We definitely look forward to working with Mintel again on future projects.
Zac Steele, E-Commerce Trading Development Manager, Waitrose & Partners
There is no question that Mintel is the go-to resource for the best quality market research, but I did not think it was an affordable option for Abacus Marketing to consider. As a small marketing agency, we only work with a few new clients each year.
However, we have a very high-end consultative approach to our work, so we really do need a partner like Mintel to provide the big agency experience we are always aiming to deliver. Our clients come from an incredibly diverse range of industry sectors, so we obviously need access to market research reports from a very wide spectrum of marketplaces – and that is precisely what we got.
Stephen Taylor-Brown, Managing Director, Abacus
When I’m investigating specific sectors I tend to use Mintel reports for their forecasting, which I’ve always found to be very accurate.
They also offer really broad and deep coverage in their reports. They are very, very detailed. For example, we were able to gain insight across a wide range of business areas from just one report, proving that Mintel is excellent value for money.
So overall, it’s the level of detail and the quality of forecasting that really stand out for me.