In our previous blog on the professional skin care market, we focused on the two largest purchase channels: beauty institutes and salons in Europe, and spas and salons in the United States. After receiving several comments and questions about this market, we would like to share newer insights related to different trends in these two markets. We also want to share a few facts from the freshly published research on South Korea.
While the overall tendency on the professional market seems to point towards a continued recovery following the 2009 dip, hidden trends behind the figures paint a more undecided picture.
In Europe, the professional skin care market posts healthy growth in 2011 as consumers return to professional venues for skin care treatments. However, consumers continue to limit post-treatment purchases. They look for more value with the money spent, pushing manufacturers to rethink their product offerings and to be more creative in order to attract consumers.
The U.S. professional skin care market registers mixed performances in 2011. While sales declined for the earlier analyzed spas and salons channel, the medical care providers channel continues to be the country’s best performing professional skin care distribution channel. Dispensing physicians were able to attract consumers back to their offices as a result of improved marketing strategy, particularly related to communication and promotional activity. A growing number of physicians turn to nonprescription skin care to increase revenue, which also helps contribute to the channel’s growth. In the spas channel, despite a tentative return from consumers, frequency of visit remains relatively poor and consumers are more cautious with their spending. As a result, there are fewer spas, but those remaining have become better managed and done particularly well to attract consumers by more creative marketing activities.
We examined South Korea for the first time this year. This market is one of the fastest growing markets for cosmetics and toiletries. While the market for professional skin care products in this country is small with sales at nearly $215 million in 2011, growth for the professional market is a stellar 9.3%, substantially higher than Europe and the United States. Leading professional skin care marketers consist of domestic brands, such as Dr. G, CNP, and Dr. Oracle. Like many non-U.S. professional skin care markets, beauty institutes is the leading professional channel in South Korea.
For more information see Kline’s Professional Skin Care.
Co-author:
Pierrick Dutton, Senior Analyst
