With over 60 long-term cooperative suppliers and hundreds to a thousand enterprises in the medical aesthetics industry's upstream sector, the questioning from two or three of them can hardly be considered a "siege," stated Jin Xing, founder, chairman, and CEO of So-Young Group, during a media interview at the 2026 Youth Conference on January 28. He emphasized that the friction with upstream manufacturers last year had not significantly impacted the company's business operations.
In 2025, product pricing power became a hot topic within China's medical aesthetics industry, with a representative case centering on the popular "Youthful Glow" injection product. In September 2025, So-Young announced the launch of its new "Youthful Glow" injection priced at 2,999 yuan, a figure hailed by the industry as the "lowest price in history" compared to market rates often exceeding ten thousand yuan per injection. Subsequently, the product's group-buying price on So-Young's platform even dropped below one thousand yuan. As a domestic medical aesthetics service provider, such "low-price" moves inevitably disrupted the established pricing systems of upstream manufacturers.
In response, several upstream manufacturers publicly voiced their concerns. In June 2025, Sunmax, the manufacturer of the "Youthful Glow" product Aivlaris, issued a statement claiming that So-Young had not procured products through official channels and that its operating physicians had not received factory training. In November 2025, another upstream manufacturer, PuriYan, published a list designating over 40 So-Young Youth Clinics as "non-official cooperative medical institutions." Later that December, FM Bio, an upstream manufacturer in the collagen sector, released a statement announcing it had ceased supplying its "Fuman" products to So-Young Group and its affiliated So-Young Youth Clinics effective October 1, 2025.
These statements from upstream manufacturers were interpreted by the industry as a "siege" against So-Young. The critical question remained: did this opposition affect the sales performance of the related products on So-Young's platform? Addressing this at the January 28th conference, Jin Xing insisted on letting the data speak, revealing that sales of the "Youthful Glow" injection experienced "rocket-like growth month after month in October, November, and December last year," which he cited as proof of minimal impact on the company's business.
During the conference, So-Young announced its latest figures: to date, So-Young Youth Clinics have established 50 outlets across 16 cities in China. Cumulatively, these clinics reached 1 million treatments by January 8, 2026. Furthermore, So-Young announced the formation of the "Youth Premium Alliance" in partnership with 14 upstream manufacturers, including Suneva, Allergan, Merz, Imeik, Bloomage, Jinbo, Sihuan, and Mebo Bio. The alliance aims to foster win-win outcomes through cooperation on volume-price linkage, tiered supply, joint training, and genuine product traceability, ensuring predictable growth for upstream enterprises and delivering "explainable prices and verifiable authentic products" for consumers.
"I don't care about all the opposing opinions; I only care about whether consumers recognize it. One million treatments prove that consumers do recognize it, which is extremely important to me. As long as consumers recognize it, it is right," Jin Xing stressed in the interview. He asserted that regardless of the number of opponents, if consumers endorse the approach, "I consider it reasonable and will persist with it."
Jin Xing also pointed out that the supply-demand dynamics in the medical aesthetics upstream sector have undergone significant changes in recent years. Previously, obtaining a certification was extremely difficult, but in 2025 alone, China issued 52 Class III medical device certificates for aesthetics, a number expected to grow annually. With potentially hundreds to thousands of upstream manufacturers in China now, medical aesthetics institutions have much greater choice and flexibility. As an institution scales, it can rigorously select long-term, fixed upstream partners and even commission customized products based on its specific needs. "It's a two-way selection; eventually, everyone finds their cooperative partners, so there isn't really an issue of a 'siege'," he explained.
"With an increasing number of upstream products available today, the market is increasingly resembling a buyer's market. The overall cost structure will gradually align with what ordinary consumers can afford," Jin Xing stated. He projected that future product supply would expand, efficacy would improve, and new technologies would proliferate, with the final price ultimately being determined by supply and demand.