"More people come to ask for prices and to try out products, but few actually come to buy," she added.

A skin-care set that was priced at 3,200 yuan ($510), was now being offered at a discount, Wang said. In addition, a number of good-sized samples would be offered to make the price more attractive.

"We seldom did this kind of promotion before, but now it is different," she said.

But the discounts and gifts and gifts don't seem to bring in more sales.

"I travel overseas at least two times a year," said Rebecca Rui, 31, an employee at an overseas property agency. "The prices of cosmetics are lower abroad. I can also ask my friends to buy some for me when they travel overseas. I haven't been shopping for a long time in Shanghai."

Wang Yao, director of CNCIC, said that as the central government forges ahead with the anti-corruption campaign, buying cosmetics as gifts is becoming more rare even as sales of skin-care products have continued to grow in recent years.

More people are buying cosmetics overseas to avoid import tariffs, he said.