Premium Beauty and Personal Care in Greece

PROSPECTS

Premium beauty and personal care slowly returns to positive growth

Since the Greek crisis commenced in 2009, value sales of premium beauty and personal care have plummeted. Faced with sliced disposable incomes and general uncertainty, Greek consumers have migrated towards mass brands, cutting down on non-essential purchases.

The worst is past for premium skin care and fragrances

Value sales of premium skin care, the biggest category within premium beauty and personal care, continued under pressure in 2017 amid tough competition posed by mass brands and intense promotional activity. The rising popularity of e-pharmacies that offer 30-40% discounts is also taking a toll on value sales, which are, however, predicted to stabilise and slowly increase over the forecast period.

Consumer trends, rising awareness and tourism boost sales

Premium colour cosmetics, having witnessed decline since the outbreak of the Greek crisis, saw positive growth in 2017, and similar growth rates are projected over the forecast period. The resilience of its sales is due to the positive impact of sophisticated consumer trends (regarding eye and facial make-up, where consumers are willing to spend more for quality and innovation) and the advent and expansion of new monobrand stores (such as NYX) and premium brands like Smashbox and Urban Decay.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

L’Oréal Hellas and Estée Lauder Cosmetics lead

L’Oréal Hellas SA led premium beauty and personal care in 2017. It leads skin care, with its Vichy brand ranking first in pharmacies, where its La Roche-Posay brand recorded significant gains in 2017.

Domestic pharmacy brands rank high in premium beauty and personal care

A trend that has emerged is the move of consumers away from department stores and beauty specialist retailers towards chemists/pharmacies, where products enjoy high consumer trust due to their “medical” or “natural” status. Dermocosmetics brands, recommended by dermatologists, are embraced by Greek consumers, and the domestic Frezyderm brand expanded its value share over the review period to rank third in premium beauty and personal care.

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