Mass Beauty and Personal Care in Guatemala

PRE-COVID-19 PERFORMANCE

Mass segment dominates beauty and personal care in Guatemala due to high number of low- to mid-income consumers, but price-sensitivity due to economic instability leads to slowing demand in 2019 for non-essential products

Mass products continued to dominate sales of beauty and personal care in 2019 in Guatemala, due to the largest target market in the country comprising low- to mid-income consumers. Many of these consumers have restrictive household incomes which means that price plays an important role in their purchasing decisions, particularly when some categories of beauty and personal care are not perceived to be essential amongst the lowest echelons of society.

Strong distribution channel of direct selling loses value share in 2019 due to dominance of mass colour cosmetics and fragrances

Mass brands have strong availability in both traditional grocery retailers and modern grocery retailers, the latter of which gained further value share in 2019, due to variety and accessible price points, two important factors which attract the main target audience of this segment within beauty and personal care. However, direct selling also remains a strong distribution channel for mass products, particularly outside of the cities because unlike modern grocery retailers such as supermarkets, direct selling agents have access to a wider consumer reach across the country, particularly in less developed areas.

Highly competitive landscape for mass beauty and personal care led by multinationals

Mass beauty and personal care remained a highly fragmented competitive landscape in 2019, led by multinational players such as Colgate-Palmolive and Procter & Gamble, which benefit from a long-standing presence in the country, wide product portfolios which address various needs and budgets, and financial support to market and promote their brands. Direct selling companies such as the regional player Belcorp, and Avon are also highly ranked due to their presence in the mass segments of colour cosmetics, fragrances, and skin care.

2020 AND BEYOND

COVID-19 impact

Value sales of mass beauty and personal care are now expected to decline by 4% in 2020 at constant 2019 prices in light of the impact of COVID-19.

Affected products within mass beauty and personal care

Mass beauty and personal care products that were deemed more essential by consumers such as bath and shower including bar soap and liquid soap (driven by demand for antibacterial hand sanitisers) due to the preventative health trend, bodywash/shower gel offering extra moisturising and fragrance properties, and deodorant sprays due to the economising trend, are expected to maintain stable demand in 2020. However, mass segments of sun care, fragrances and colour cosmetics on the whole are predicted to experience declines in 2020, due to the home seclusion trend and therefore, due to restrictive movements outside of the home environment, working from home and lack of socialising, these products are deemed non-essential by the majority of consumers looking to save money instead for groceries and products related to basic personal hygiene.

Recovery and opportunities

Mass beauty and personal care is not expected to return to some level of normalisation in terms of purchasing behaviour until 2022 in terms of value sales at constant 2019 prices, with 2021 experiencing stagnation in demand for many products. Despite low virus rates and related deaths, many local consumers are expected to remain extremely cautious in their spending habits once lockdown measures are eased due to ongoing price sensitivity.

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