Estée Lauder invests in Chinese perfume brand Melt Season

Estée Lauder, the American cosmetics giant, continues its exploration of China’s beauty market by recently acquiring a minority stake in the Chinese fragrance brand, Melt Season, through its investment entity, New Incubation Ventures.This strategic move follows Estée Lauder’s previous minority investment in the Chinese skincare and makeup brand, Code Mint, made in September through the New Incubation Ventures arm.

While the exact financial details of the deal remain undisclosed, this minority investment in the Chinese fragrance brand marks Estée Lauder’s debut investment in a Chinese perfume brand. It’s worth noting that China is projected to become the world’s second-largest fine fragrance market in the next two years, second only to the United States. In 2022, L’Oréal China also made a minority investment in the Chinese fragrance brand, Documents.

Established in 2020 by Lishi Ni, the young premium label offers personal scents and had previously secured initial funding in 2020 from One Capital, followed by a second round in 2022 from Breeze Capital.

This investment by Estée Lauder comes at a time when the company is navigating challenging financial outcomes. In the first quarter of its fiscal year 2024, the group experienced a 10% decline in revenue, totaling $3.52 billion. Estée Lauder attributes these results to “anticipated pressures in travel retail activities in Asia, along with increasing headwinds due to a slower-than-expected recovery in mainland China’s prestige products.”