618 Pre-sale Tracking: Giant Biogene Exceeds Expectations, Proya Maintains Top Spot

Overview

This report is Morgan Stanley's tracking review of beauty brand sales rankings during the 2026 Tmall 618 major promotion pre-sale phase. Core conclusion: This year's 618 pre-sale pattern sees domestic leaders maintaining strong performance. Giant Biogene's brand Comfy exceeded market expectations, MGP ranking steadily climbs, Proya holds top spot firmly. Meanwhile, international and domestic brands show differentiated sales rhythms across different stages of the promotion.

Core views

Overall ranking structure compared to last year's pre-sale, this year's Top 10 brand list remains unchanged but internal rankings adjusted, Proya continues to hold first place. Among international brands, SK-II, SkinCeuticals, and Clarins saw biggest improvements, ranking rising by 4, 3, and 3 spots respectively; while L'Oreal Paris ranking dropped by 5 spots. In domestic brand camp, total 5 brands entered Top 20, quantity same as last year, among which Timage fell out of Top 20, while Fan Beauty enters the list for the first time. Regarding key company performance, Giant Biogene is considered a "positive surprise" in this pre-sale. Report believes its pre-sale results exceeded market expectations: although Comfy did not enter Top 20 on the first day (May 21), it quickly climbed to 11th place within subsequent 7 days, and ranking increased by 1 spot year-over-year. Considering last year same period (May 16-26) base was high and affected by external negative events, this achievement is particularly encouraging. Among domestic brands, Comfy ranks currently second, after only Proya, followed sequentially by Winona, MGP, and Fan Beauty; additionally, Collgene ranks 20th among domestic brands. MGP also demonstrates strong growth momentum. This brand ranked 15th during the 7-day pre-sale period, while on first day still outside Top 20, showing obvious improvement compared to 17th-18th place during last year's 618 period. Report points out, MGP online growth rate year-to-date across various platforms remains among strongest for large-scale brands, main drivers come from continuous user acquisition in cosmetics category and enhanced brand attractiveness.

Analysis framework

Report adopts high-frequency e-commerce sales ranking tracking method, comparing 2026 618 pre-sale data with last year same period and historical major promotion nodes horizontally, to evaluate short-term sales momentum and competitive landscape changes of beauty brands. Analysis specifically distinguishes two time windows: "Pre-sale First Day" and "7-Day Pre-sale Cumulative", to observe sales burst rhythm differences between different brand types. Report finds international brands tend to concentrate releasing sales on the first day, while domestic and mass-premium brands show stronger sustained growth momentum in subsequent stages. This rhythm differentiation is an important clue to understanding differences in brand operation strategy and user portraits.

Methodology notes

• Industry/Industrial Analysis FrameworkQuantity/Price Decomposition

  E-commerce Major Promotion Pre-sale Ranking Tracking and YoY Comparison

  By comparing sales ranking changes of the same brand at different promotion nodes (e.g., last year 618 pre-sale vs this year 618 pre-sale), indirectly infer its sales growth rate and market share changes. Ranking increase usually means growth outperforms overall market or competitors, a commonly used high-frequency confidence verification method in consumer product research.

• Industry/Industrial Analysis FrameworkOthers

  Major Promotion Staged Sales Rhythm Analysis (First Day vs Cumulative)

  Splitting major promotions into 'First Day Burst' and 'Subsequent Cumulative' stages to observe rankings separately can identify brand traffic structure differences: Brands relying on top streamers or pre-sale deposits to lock customers often have high first-day rankings, while brands relying on daily operations, repurchases, and content seeding catch up faster in the latter stage. This helps judge the sustainability of brand growth.

Asset mapping & comparison

Structured mapping from thesis to named assets (strengths, weaknesses, peers, risks).

• Giant Biogene (02367.HK)

  Core Beneficiary: Underlying brand Comfy 618 pre-sale ranking exceeds expectations, viewed as positive surprise of this promotion

  Strengths

  7-day pre-sale ranking rose to 11th, ranks second among domestic brands; Achieved YoY ranking improvement despite high base

  Weaknesses

  Did not enter Top 20 on pre-sale first day, initial burst power weaker than some international brands

  Comparison

  Rank among domestic brands only second to Proya, ahead of Winona, MGP, and Fan Beauty

• Proya

  Industry Benchmark: Continuously retains 618 pre-sale top spot, solid status as domestic beauty leader

  Strengths

  Stably holds first place, ranking unaffected by international brand rebound impact

  Comparison

  Ranking higher than all international brands and domestic peers

• MGP

  Growth Beneficiary: Pre-sale ranking significantly improved, online growth rate leads among scale brands

  Strengths

  7-day pre-sale rank 15th, up 2-3 spots versus last year; Cosmetics category continuous user acquisition, brand attractiveness enhanced

  Weaknesses

  Did not enter Top 20 on pre-sale first day, slow start

  Comparison

  Ranks fourth among domestic brands, after Comfy and Winona

Key data

• Proya 618 Pre-sale RankingNo. 1Retains top spot, consistent with last year
• Comfy (Giant Biogene) 7-Day Pre-sale RankingNo. 11First day not in Top 20, rose to No. 11 within 7 days; Up 1 spot versus last year
• MGP 7-Day Pre-sale RankingNo. 15First day not in Top 20; Up 2-3 spots from last year's 618 17th-18th place
• SK-II / SkinCeuticals / Clarins Ranking Change+4 / +3 / +3 SpotsThree brands with biggest progress among international brands
• L'Oreal Paris Ranking Change-5 SpotsBrand with most significant ranking decline in Top 10
• Domestic Brand Top 20 Count5Same as last year; Fan Beauty enters for first time, Timage falls out

Impact & implications

The report considers Giant Biogene's performance in this 618 pre-sale constitutes a "positive surprise", especially achieving ranking improvement against last year's high base and external adverse factors, indicating its product power and brand momentum continue to enhance. MGP ranking leap further verifies its online channel growth potential and cosmetics category user acquisition capability. For the entire beauty sector, domestic leaders demonstrating stronger resilience in the latter half of major promotions indicates they are gradually reducing dependence on single burst nodes, daily operations and brand mindshare building are transforming into more sustainable sales momentum.

What to watch

• 618 Official Period (Non-pre-sale Phase) Final Sales Rankings and GMV Realization for Each Brand
• Comparison of International Brands' Catch-up Effort in Official Period vs Sustainability of Domestic Brands' Latter-half Momentum