Sun Care in the United Arab Emirates

PRE-COVID-19 PERFORMANCE

Demand boosted by rising awareness of the damage caused to skin by the sun

Towards the end of the review period, consumers in the United Arab Emirates become increasingly aware of how important it is to use sun protection and aftersun products to protect one’s skin from excessive sun exposure. In particular, preventing sunburn has become a major priority for many fair skinned local people.

The cultural preference for fair skin motivates people to avoid sun exposure

In the United Arab Emirates, there is a strong cultural tendency for people to avoid any level of exposure to the sun. This applies to both the local Arab population and the huge numbers of expatriates from South Asia who work in the country, presenting major obstacles to sales growth in sun care.

Chemists/pharmacies supports strong sales via price promotions

At the end of the review period, chemists/pharmacies remained the leading single retail distribution channel for sales of sun care. One of the most important reasons for the strong position of chemists/pharmacies in the category is the regular use of generous price promotions on sun care products by all of the leading chained players in chemists/pharmacies, including Aster Pharmacy, Life Pharmacy and BinSina Pharmacy.

2020 AND BEYOND

COVID-19 impact

Sales of sun care are now expected to contract by 11% in 2020 in 2019 constant value terms in light of the impact of COVID-19. This is a far worse performance than the expected 1% decline forecast for 2020 during research conducted at the end of 2019 before the spread of COVID-19.

Affected products within sun care

All sun care categories are expected to have suffered declining sales as a result of COVID-19, with no major variations likely to have been seen between individual categories.

Recovery and opportunities

Sales of sun care were already under pressure prior to the onset of COVID-19 due to maturity of demand and the general preference among local Arab consumers to avoid exposure to the harsh and unforgiving Arabian sunshine altogether, rather than using sun protection as a way of making it possible to venture outside without being sunburnt. Thus, it is unlikely that the category will recover completely from the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and the government’s reaction to it during 2020 before the end of the forecast period, with sales set to continue declining as demand remains weak, with few reasons to expect any significant recovery in category sales for the foreseeable future.

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