Premium Beauty and Personal Care in Sweden

PRE-COVID-19 PERFORMANCE

Premium beauty and personal care products think outside the box in 2019 to fight off competition from mass products

With mass categories attempting differentiation and market development through premiumisation, the distance in terms of quality, aesthetics and personalised offering between mass and premium categories is continuing to shrink. This has forced existing premium brands to increasingly think out of the box, further improving style, aesthetics and emphasising product quality characteristics to maintain their headway.

Popularity of organic and vegan products is on the rise in 2019

Consumer demand for organic and environmentally friendly products in all categories is continuing to grow, presenting an opportunity for premium brands to differentiate relative to cheaper but aesthetically similar mass brands. These trends tie on to general health and wellness concerns, with consumers widely regarding organic and environmentally friendly products as being more natural and, therefore, also by extension less toxic.

Niche new products seen in premium men’s grooming to appeal to environmentally conscious men with money

Several players have launched new products attempting to exploit market niches. Men’s grooming is one of the more prominent categories, featuring brands such as Carl&Son, a proprietary brand of men’s skin care products, or Bulldog sustainable razors, launched in specialist retail stores across the country.

2020 AND BEYOND

COVID-19 impact

Sales of premium beauty and personal care are expected to fall by 8% in 2020 in 2019 constant value terms, in light of the impact of COVID-19. This is due to reluctance to spend on more expensive items as Swedish consumers wait to assess the extent of the damage caused by COVID-19.

Affected products within premium beauty and personal care

While some premium categories will fare less worse than others thanks to price cuts and gifting purposes eg colour cosmetics sets/kits, as well as to a number of the consumer base being less negatively impacted by the overall loss in purchasing power, eg bath and shower and skin care, the most prevalent trend in the consumer reaction to COVID-19 has been to spend less on premium items. This has led to them either trading down or making less frequent purchases.

Recovery and opportunities

Recovery in the premium segment is expected to be reflected in sales over 2021 when real GDP growth is predicted to return along with general purchasing power. Many consumers will become less cautious and switch back from mass purchases or normalise their purchasing frequency of premium beauty and personal care.

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