After the dip in sales seen in Western Europe in 2020, when Coronavirus (COVID-19) hit the region, skin care was back to recording positive growth in real value terms in 2021. However, the rebound will be gradual, rather than sudden, with industry players and consumers struggling with inflationary pressures in the post-pandemic period. Nevertheless, premium and dermocosmetic skin care products are also expected to continue growing over 2021-2026.
This report comes in PPT.
With some consumers’ financial situation negatively impacted by the COVID-19 restrictions, mass products outperformed their premium counterparts in skin care in 2020 for the first time since 2015. Some product areas were worse hit than others, eg there was less demand for facial cleansers due to the reduced wearing of make-up and sets/kits suffered from the loss of gift-giving occasions. However, most areas of skin care were recovering in 2021, as vaccination programmes were rolled out and restrictions were being eased.
The trend towards natural ingredients continues to grow, as consumers become better informed about products. Many players have launched ranges with fewer ingredients and have substituted chemical ingredients for natural ones. This includes the major multinationals as well as smaller local or regional companies.
Although e-commerce growth slowed in 2021, after the major gains seen in 2020, companies continue to invest in their online platforms. The changing distribution landscape could present challenges for mainstay players moving forward, with the online marketplace being more competitive than in-store, with the digital share of shelf often being much smaller than in-store for the major players, due to the large number of niche players online. These mainstays will increasingly have to adapt their branding to be e-commerce-friendly, while connecting and communicating with consumers effectively through social marketing and their own organic social platforms.
Skin care in Western Europe will see positive, if relatively modest, annual growth rates in real value terms over the forecast period. Although inflation will create a challenging environment in the early years of 2021-2026, premium and dermocosmetic products are expected to be increasingly popular.
This is the aggregation of baby and child-specific products, bath & shower, deodorants, hair care, colour cosmetics, men's grooming, oral hygiene, fragrances, skin care, depilatories and sun care. Black market sales and travel retail are excluded.
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