Colour Cosmetics in Saudi Arabia

PRE-COVID-19 PERFORMANCE

Category players must accept the importance of maintaining strong online presence

Internet penetration in Saudi Arabia remains among the highest in the world. In particular, smartphone ownership and usage remain very high in the Kingdom, and this means that the leading players in colour cosmetics must pay considerable attention to their online presence.

Make Up For Ever leads a fragmented category as competition intensifies

2019 saw LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s premium colour cosmetics brand Make Up For Ever continue to lead category sales. The brand continues to benefit from its widespread availability and strong presence on shelves in key distribution channels.

Beauty specialist retailers dominate distribution as e-commerce gains further ground

Beauty specialist retailers remained the dominant retail distribution channel for the cosmetics in Saudi Arabia at the end of the review period. The leaders in this channel include Sephora, Wojooh, Paris Gallery, Vavavoom, Laure Boutique and Beauti and the dominant position of these retailers in sales of colour cosmetics can be attributed mainly to the popularity of private label lines such as Made In Sephora and WOW by Wojooh, as well as their strong presence throughout the country.

2020 AND BEYOND

COVID-19 impact

Sales of colour cosmetics are now expected to decline by 7% in 2020 in 2019 constant value terms in light of the impact of COVID-19. This represents a huge slowdown from the expected 2% rise forecast for 2020 during research conducted at the end of 2019 before the spread of COVID-19.

Affected products within colour cosmetics

All colour cosmetics categories are expected to have registered negative value growth at constant 2019 prices over the course of 2020. Premium brands seem to have fared considerably worse than mass products, with mass powder, mass lipstick and mass foundation/concealer among the categories that were the least affected by COVID-19 due to their being considered among the most essential of colour cosmetics.

Recovery and opportunities

After COVID-19, social distancing and the resultant economic uncertainty suppressed demand for colour cosmetics during 2020, the category is expected to continue struggling to register positive sales growth over the forecast period. The rising cost of living is set to continue placing pressure on consumer spending on all non-essential products.

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