For instance, L'Occitane is replacing a previously unrecyclable pump used in one of its shampoo products, a step that greatly streamlines the recyclable procedure and brings down costs, said Wang Yuqing, a public relations officer at TerraCycle, a firm specializing in recycling hard-to-recycle materials that partnered with L'Occitane for the initiative.

The turnover of imported high-end wines witnessed a sixfold surge from Nov 1 to Nov 11, and sales of overseas premium shampoo rose by 3.5 times on a yearly basis.

The Ohio-headquartered group began its China business with a joint venture in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province, to produce Head & Shoulders, a type of anti-dandruff shampoo in 1988.

In April, Japanese cosmetics brand Shiseido entered into a partnership with Alibaba through a similar liaison office and an initiative to jointly develop a new shampoo targeting young female users.

"Our skin care brand, Bio-essence, was the first to launch a skin care range with the well-regarded Bird's Nest ingredient and our male grooming brand, Romano, was among the first to launch silicone free formulation in shampoo for men," he said.

Xu said the company's front-end warehouses, which are located close to shoppers' communities and neighborhoods, would now be able to deliver 3,000 types of products such as fresh fruit, seafood, shampoo, tissue paper and fresh coffee within an hour.

Under the initiative, Shiseido will work with Tmall Innovation Center, Alibaba's in-house product co-creation program, to jointly develop a new shampoo targeting young female users.

"By verifying these homes, we make sure the houses come fully stocked with shampoo, toilet paper, pots and pans, and have a general level of cleanliness to meet higher expectations from travelers," he said.

But of course, the former helmsman of the Central Asia market for Unilever, which last year acquired the Swedish company, is well aware that it takes more effort and investment to get consumers to pay for a durable machine than, say, a sundae or the bottles of shampoo he used to sell.

"When one buys a bottle of shampoo and doesn't like it, it's a $3 mistake.

Eager to further diversify its business, the Heerlen-headquartered group in recent years has also expanded its operations into the field of personal care, to produce skin care, sun care and shampoo.

"Our products are primarily sold to producers of daily-use items such as shampoo, shower gel, conditioner and cosmetics," said Gao, noting that a large number of domestic palm oil processing companies have already expanded their production capacity this year, leading to a significant increase in the import of Indonesian palm oil.

Data from Meituan, one of China's online delivery platforms, showed that a week before the holiday, online searches for travel toothbrushes, travel sub bottles and travel shampoo packs soared by 1,037 percent, 368 percent and 272 percent, respectively, compared with a week ago.

The sales of shampoo increased over 10 percent in the same period.

Behind the performance there was a return to out-of-home activities that resulted in higher sales of cosmetics, shampoo and conditioner, among other categories.

According to a report released by Chinese e-commerce company JD last year, online sales growth rate of high-end shampoo products priced 120 yuan ($16.7) or more reached 114 percent year-on-year, becoming the main driver of higher online sales of shampoos.

According to a recent report from Alibaba's Tmall e-commerce platform, new-generation parents pay more attention to the efficacy of baby shampoo and shower products.

"She has her children-exclusive shampoo and body wash.

"With a simple tap on my mobile phone, I can also order daily necessities like towels, tissues, shampoo as well as medicine," Zhang said.

He reached for his phone, and placed another order for anti-hair loss shampoo online.

Apart from anti-hair loss shampoo, he has tried hair growth serum, a hair growth comb, and a hair growth machine, which cost him 6,000 yuan ($853).

Anti-hair loss shampoo, the most traditional choice for those suffering from hair loss, also showed potential growth.

Industry data showed that in 2018, the market volume of anti-hair loss shampoo reached 1.13 billion yuan, up 15.3 percent on a year-on-year basis.

Traditional Chinese herbal anti-hair loss shampoo brand Bawang Group launched an intellectual property (IP)-protected cartoon "Bawang elf family", which was drawn on the product package to attract young consumers.

Some of them bought 25,000 bottles of shampoo within two minutes.

An anti-hair loss shampoo made in France, priced 888 yuan ($132.50), sold out fast.

These included products like Japanese hair colorants and face masks, German hand moisturizers and foot creams, Australian goat milk soap, French hair shampoo and conditioner, male skin care gift sets from South Korea and other personal care products, all of which will be delivered to her hometown in Jingdezhen of Jiangxi province in the next few days.