Almost every country in the world is affected by Covid-19, Japan is no exception. To contain the crisis, the government has not introduced mandatory containment or quarantine, but has advised social distancing and encouraged teleworking wherever possible. In a webinar organized by Chemlinked on March 24, 2020, Robert McGuiness, founder of Knect Japan, shared some interesting data to understand the impact of Covid-19 on the Japanese beauty market in the first quarter of 2020.
Japan is the third largest economy and the third largest beauty market in the world. Its GDP per capita is very high.
In addition, Japanese people are educated in beauty care. As a result, they are big consumers of cosmetics.
Despite less strict measures than in other countries, Covid-19 has shaken up the cosmetics industry, but has also changed consumer behaviour.
Less sales
At the level of ingredient suppliers and production lines, nothing has changed. Brands are still able to manufacture, package and market their cosmetics.
However, in-store sales have been impacted.
86% of retailers believe that Covid-19 has had a negative effect on their business and 69% of them report that revenues have fallen.
In addition, 61% of planned public events were cancelled.
In January, there was a high level of in-store attendance, whether to shop or simply window-shop. It was almost 100%.
By the beginning of March, almost half of these visitors had deserted the shops.
Changes in consumption
Although the wearing of masks is quite commonplace in Asia, more and more people have been wearing them since the beginning of the health crisis. In addition to this, much more frequent and massive purchases of hydroalcoholic gel have …
