Beauty and Personal Care in Asia Pacific

Delivery

This report comes in PPT.

Key Findings

Local brands performing strongly in China

China was seeing the continued rise of local brands in 2022, with domestic brands being closer to local consumers and able to meet their needs faster and in a more targeted way, while also offering more affordable prices and more comprehensive marketing channels. Local brands such as Winona or MGPIN are even making strong gains in the premium segment. With the continued  popularity of China-Chic, home-grown brands are expected to continue to grow.

Increasing focus on ingredients

Beauty brands were leveraging digital engagement and marketing campaigns with brand ambassadors to ensure strong brand recall during the pandemic in India. This led to increased consumer knowledge, which in turn led to an amplified focus on the ingredients of beauty products. With brands increasingly highlighting key ingredients in their campaigns, vitamin C, salicylic acid, niacinamide and hyaluronic acid were among the ingredients gaining favour.

E-commerce share growing, direct selling share declining

While e-commerce continued its inexorable rise in South Korea, reaching a 52% share of retail value sales in 2022, direct selling continued to lose share in this country. The declining number of salespersons makes it difficult to attract younger generations to form part of the customer base. In addition, not only is the main customer base becoming older, but tightening industry regulation is making it harder for new entrants.

Kao Corp discontinuing brands to improve its competitiveness

In 2021, Kao Corp established a single cosmetics division to integrate brands owned by Kao and Kanebo Cosmetics, which used to work as separate teams to sell their respective brands. Since then, it has been reviewing its portfolio to strengthen its competitiveness through selection and concentration, with this expected to see the discontinuation of 28 brands by 2024.