La belle France, a country with a strong aesthetic tradition, widely admired for its taste in style, luxury, and beauty, and where those with an eye for professional primping à la Française continue to pamper themselves – albeit with notable moderation finds a Kline's research on professional skin care, beauty devices, and salon hair care markets in France.
When it comes to professional skin care, the discerning French bon vivant is right at home in the largest market, with France accounting for over 20% of skin care product sales in Europe. This figure has remained stable through 2012, save for incremental growth of 0.9%. Ongoing challenging market conditions have seen Guinot, the country’s largest professional skin care brand, which enjoys a loyal clientele, suffer a drop in sales. Conversely, Clarins and Sothys both experienced growth in this period.
France’s aging but vibrant population remains the most vigorous consumer market, with anti-aging products accounting for over 43% of take-home face care sales.
The spas channel is evolving, with various hotel and resort spas reaching out to new customers and plenty of new day spas opening in different regions. Despite not being devoid of challenges, luxury spas in Paris and the Côte d’Azur are still attracting the most clientele.
The fortunes of beauty institutes differ according to their target markets. Those servicing the mid segment are suffering as a result of lower consumer spending, while the lower end of the market is growing strongly with the multiplication of beauty institutes working under franchise and/or located within retail stores. High end …
