Mass Beauty and Personal Care in Malaysia

PRE-COVID-19 PERFORMANCE

Players explore innovative use of charcoal and flowers in new product launches within a number of mass beauty and personal care categories in 2019

Demand for mass beauty and personal care continued to gain momentum in Malaysia in 2019, as an increasing number of players explored the use of natural and interesting ingredients to create higher specific value within the category while maintaining affordability to a wider consumer group. Mass beauty and personal care therefore, continued to dominate the market at the end of the review period, although it held lower value share within colour cosmetics, skin care and fragrances due to the strong presence of premium brands in these categories.

Demand for greater convenience leads to time-saving solutions from multi-purpose products

The demand for greater convenience from busy urban consumers has also led to the development of mass beauty and personal care products that offer time-saving solutions as part of their daily hygiene routines. The incorporation of several properties within one product was explored by Southern Lion with its Shokubutsu Mochi Hada range of 2-in-1 Face and Body Shower series which claims to both cleanse and moisturise whilst showering, reducing the need to moisturise the skin after with a separate product.

Intensifying competition within fragmented mass beauty and personal care landscape, with Japanese and Korean brands building momentum

The competitive landscape of mass beauty and personal care remained fairly fragmented in 2019 in Malaysia, and led by major international players such as Unilever (M) Holdings Sdn Bhd (Dove, Lifebuoy and Brylcreem amongst many others) and L'Oréal (M) Sdn Bhd (Maybelline, L'Oréal Studio Line, Garnier) with the latter also present in the premium category. The latter’s brand L'Oréal Dermo-Expertise recorded a particularly strong performance within mass anti-agers in 2019, due to the growing demand for dermocosmetics, which are able to clinically prove that they have been dermatologically tested and have scientific approval.

2020 AND BEYOND

COVID-19 impact

Value sales of mass beauty and personal care are expected to grow by 5% in 2020 at constant 2019 prices in light of the impact of COVID-19.

Affected products within mass beauty and personal care

Due to the home seclusion trend in Malaysia during the pandemic which forced many consumers to remain at home, demand for many mass beauty and personal care products is set to wane or decline in 2020. This will be particularly noticeable within colour cosmetics as consumers rarely leave their homes, and therefore do not feel the need to purchase these products as they are not going to their place of work or socialising with friends.

Recovery and opportunities

Normalisation in terms of purchasing behaviour is set to return from 2021, benefiting mass beauty and personal care which is predicted to record a stronger performance in value terms at constant 2019 prices compared to the review period. Following strict lockdown measures in 2020 during the pandemic, many consumers will remain wary of spending too much on certain beauty products, while maintaining their preference for mass personal care items due to unemployment and job freezes, reducing their overall household incomes over the first part of the forecast period.

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