Premium Beauty and Personal Care in Malaysia

2020 IMPACT

Home seclusion trend and rising price sensitivity during pandemic subdues demand for many premium beauty and personal care products

The emergence of the pandemic in Malaysia and subsequent lockdown in March, resulted in weakening consumer sentiment during an unstable period and decreasing disposable incomes due to rising unemployment, forcing many consumers to prioritise their expenditure. Premium beauty and personal care was directly impacted by this scenario, recording declining value sales overall in 2020, with consumers either postponing their purchase of non-essential products such as colour cosmetics, with the latter particularly impacted by the home seclusion trend, or trading down to mass brands for essential personal hygiene items such as bath and shower or facial care.

Positive highlights despite overall declining value sales

Despite overall declining value sales for premium beauty and personal care in 2020, a number of products still experienced demand, with urban more affluent consumers likely to have maintained their personal grooming and beauty routines whilst at home, especially when beauty salons were closed and they were unable to indulge in booking treatments. This trend was most evident within premium skin care, including premium basic moisturisers and premium anti-agers which remained fairly resilient to the unstable situation, and men’s grooming, with premium men’s skin care gaining marginal share in 2020, driven by younger urban Malaysians who are generally taking a greater interest in their appearance and are more willing to invest in higher quality products.

Premium brands further embrace e-commerce with specialist stores closed

Major international players retained their leading positions within premium beauty and personal care in Malaysia in 2020, although Estée Lauder, Procter & Gamble and L'Oréal experienced mixed results in terms of gaining or losing value share as smaller players under “others” gained notable ground, driven in part by the move online by consumers with department stores and beauty specialist retailers closed during lockdown. Nevertheless, traditionally, these players enjoy long-standing global brand reputations which are appreciated by more affluent Malaysians and their continued efforts to launch interesting and innovative products over the review period.

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