Premium Beauty and Personal Care in Malaysia

PRE-COVID-19 PERFORMANCE

Strengthening current value growth for premium beauty and personal care in 2019 but retains low overall penetration of the market in 2019

Whilst premium beauty and personal care continued to record strong current value growth in 2019, it retained low penetration of the overall market in Malaysia, affordable to more affluent consumers. However, premium brands hold a stronger presence in fragrances and colour cosmetics, gaining further value share in the latter in 2019, in addition to skin care, in particular the men’s category, due to an increasing focus by men on their appearance and trading up amongst more affluent Malays.

Premium brands look to customisation as point of differentiation from mass products

With the increasing number of launches by mass brands that also use innovative and natural ingredients for their beauty and personal care products, premium players must look to offer greater levels of differentiation such as customisation and personalisation. The latter trend in particular, helped to drive greater interest in premium products including premium fragrances such as those by French brand Henry Jacques, which has now opened its own standalone store in Kuala Lumpur.

Major international players consolidate their leading positions in 2019, while Japanese and Korean brands gain further consumer attention

Major international players consolidated their leading positions within premium beauty and personal care in Malaysia in 2019, with Estée Lauder, Procter & Gamble and L'Oréal all gaining further value share due to their long-standing global brand reputations which are appreciated by more affluent Malays and their continued efforts to launch interesting and innovative products.

2020 AND BEYOND

COVID-19 impact

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

Affected products within premium beauty and personal care

Many premium beauty and personal care products are set to be negatively impacted by the response to COVID-19 in 2020, particularly products that are deemed non-essential such as many colour cosmetics including premium lipstick, and premium BB/CC creams which are predicted to record a huge drop in demand compared to their strong performances in 2019. Like colour cosmetics, premium fragrances will suffer lower volume growth in 2020 due to the home seclusion trend; with consumers only leaving home to do essential grocery shopping, they are less likely to wear these products as they are not socialising or going to work.

Recovery and opportunities

A return to normalisation in terms of value growth at constant 2019 prices is expected for premium beauty and personal care from 2021 onwards, with the category building stronger momentum towards the end of the forecast period.

Files are delivered directly into your account within a few minutes of purchase.