Sun Care in Costa Rica

PROSPECTS

Additional sun protection and segmentation efforts continue to shape demand in 2018

As major global manufacturers and local distributors looked to expand the sales potential of their main value proposals, their investment in development of new sun protection products remained relatively low in 2018. Instead, there was further proliferation of more specialised dermocosmetics brands, such as Umbrella, which focused on supporting higher-end niche consumers by addressing their complementary concerns in relation to facial skin and sun care expectations.

Mass players maintain focus on sun protection

Given the traditional preference for high protection factors, which are what drive sales in this category along with affordability and availability, major mass-orientated players remain focused on promoting products with SPFs of 50 and above. This focus is often is often combined with additional performance claims, such as extended protection, water resistance and sports-positioning claims.

Additional segmentation and use of natural ingredients to become increasingly relevant

Given the strong inertia seen in the offer of more specialised value proposals and the good development opportunities for natural-based formulations across most associated skin care categories in Costa Rica, this trend is expected to gain momentum and become reinforced by sun care value proposals over the forecast period. In this context, a growing base of young millennials is expected to increase the relevance of such types of functional developments targeted to middle- and high-income consumers.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Traditional international brands continue to lead sun care sales

Traditional domestic distributors and international players including Cefa Corporación (Hawaiian Tropic and Banana Boat) and BDF Costa Rica (Nivea and Eucerin) remained ahead in sun care sales in Costa Rica during 2017-2018. Their top-of-mind value proposals kept benefiting from having renowned quality recognition, which leverage on having an historic use tradition amongst most middle- and high-end consumers in the country, being capable of reaching vast levels of availability, segmentation and relatively affordable unit prices.

More specialised products expected to consolidate by 2023

As major local and international players continue to look for additional development opportunities over the 2018-2023 forecast period, demand for more specialised sun care products is anticipated to gain further momentum amongst middle- and upper-income local buyers. In this context, the relation with dermocosmetics and natural- based dermatological proposals, such as botanical extracts breakthroughs, should gain additional relevance, based on multiple types of performance and skin care claims.

Penetration set to increase as larger global retailers and smaller local laboratories expand their distribution to reach lower-income population segments

Finally, we can also expect lower-priced options and generic brands to gain momentum, as larger global retailers such as Walmart and smaller local laboratories take advantage of their distribution know-how. This scenario will help to expand the sales’ opportunities across a broader base of traditional grocery retailers and drugstores/pharmacies, as well as through modern grocery retailers, in the case of Walmart.

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