Syneron's archrival Lumenis was the early bird at the Chinese market. It set foot in the developing nation in 1992. Its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Avner Raz said that China is now the world's third-largest laser aesthetic medical market, coming after the United States and Japan. The company's business in China is forecast to triple within three years.

To meet the physical and skin conditions of Chinese people, the multinational companies are carrying out technological localization and developing locally-tailored products.

So far, all Syneron's products are imported from abroad. "We will set up manufacturing capability in China," Eckhouse said. Raz disclosed a similar plan.

Although the foreign giants came to China with ambitious plans and plenty of confidence, it is difficult for them to win the dominant market share, said Wang, adding that the domestic market has long been controlled by local players and that the comparatively high prices of overseas companies is an obstacle.

Zheng Junli, 36, is running a medical aesthetic chain with five outlets in Beijing. She founded her first salon in 2005 and, with total assets of 10 million yuan now, she said that she will not buy imported devices because of their high prices. "Usually, the cost of an imported one is five to six times a similar domestically-made one. I cannot afford that," she said.

Syneron and Lumenis clients are usually hospitals, large beauty institutions and luxury salons, but they account for a minority of China's medical aesthetic market, according to Wang.

But both Eckhouse and Raz said they believe their cutting-edge products and technologies will penetrate the emerging market very quickly. Chinese people are becoming quality-sensitive, they said.

(China Daily December 13, 2010)