Stars for Beauty Parlours

2004/04/15

Chinas 1.54 million beauty parlors may adopt a star-rating system similar to that for the hotel industry.

The system, to be enforced by the end of this year, is intended to regulate the market and help the industry develop, as envisioned by the Ministry of Commerce.

China Beauty and Cosmetic Chamber will draft a star-rating standard for the ministry. The new regulation will rate a shop based on its size, interior decoration, cosmetic products and services.

The regulation will phase out a number of uncompetitive players. But the government will help those small parlours to survive through merger and acquisition, said Zhang Hongyu, a spokesman with the chamber.

China s beauty salon industry has grown fast in the past few years. The industrys sales turnover reached 160 billion yuan (US$19.2 billion) last year, according to Luo Xielong, chairman of the chamber.



	Article featured in Business Beijing, April 2004 Publication sponsored by Information Office of the Beijing Municipal Government, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, Development & Reform Commission of Beijing Municipality, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (Beijing Sub-Council)