Euromonitor International’s Beauty and Personal Care 2016 edition data reveals the latest insights on the industry’s 2015 performance and key prospects through to 2020. The upsurge in the premium segment dominates the scene, as the growth of 6% outpaced the mass segment for the first time, to reach nearly US$100 billion. Discretionary categories, namely colour cosmetics, fragrances and skin care, were responsible for the premium segment growth. Overarching trends including authenticity, personalisation, and a unique proposition fuelled growth in brands that best encompassed these trends in their products.
North America led premium growth. Premium colour cosmetics and premium fragrances both doubled growth (12.9% and 4.5%, respectively) in 2015, when compared to 2014. Premium skin care outperformed the mass segment in North America and Western Europe, while in Asia Pacific, mass skin care grew faster (6%) than the premium counterpart (4.4%), but was slower than 2014 growth (premium 4.2%, mass 7.5%), hinting at greater dynamism in premium skin care. Mass fragrances continued to slip, shrinking by US$21million in North America, and remained flat at US$3.4 billion in Western Europe.
The US boosting colour cosmetics
Colour cosmetics’ stellar performance of over 6% in 2015 meant it outperformed global beauty and personal care (4.7%), attributable to the premium segment, and robust categories, including lip products, foundation/concealer and BB/CC creams, the latter witnessing a rapid five-fold expansion over 2010-2015, to reach US$1.7 billion globally. The significant performance (7.4%) by the leading US market, reaffirms its status as a hotbed for innovation, and its successful economic recovery is facilitating the gradual shift to premium colour cosmetics, which witnessed 13% growth, compared to just 2.3% in the mass segment.
Premium market front-runner Estée Lauder had reasons to celebrate, as it experienced gains of 7.4% …
