Germany is the largest professional hair care market in Europe, driven by hair coloring, which makes up over 40% of salon hair care sales, according to our soon-to-be-published Salon Hair Care Global Series. Consumers in Germany continue to visit the salon for hair color services, as well as to experiment with lower commitment hair colors. On the other hand, marketers launch innovative color ranges, such as Goldwell’s Pure Pigments range, which claims high definition color intensity.
However, the latest change we observed in Germany is not necessarily in relation to products, but to distribution channels. E-commerce is a hot topic in 2018, and this is exemplified by the growing number of online platforms that allow for the purchase of professional products. While still small in comparison to other channels of distribution, sales through e-commerce register a double-digit increase in 2017.
A major development in the e-commerce channel is the launch of Amazon Salon Pro in March 2018, at Top Hair Düsseldorf, which we attended. This introduction makes available for mass-market purchases and salons alike a wide selection of more than 1,500 products from local and international brand manufacturers, such as Conair, ghd, Babyliss, Toni & Guy, Revlon, and many others. According to Amazon, each product’s detail page, in addition to the product description, provides in-depth information about ingredients, application areas, reviews, and product comparisons. Moreover, Amazon Salon Pro customers can ask manufacturers questions. This launch is sure to revolutionize the way professional salon hair products purchase are done in Germany, leading to continual growth in e-commerce.
Another key aspect of the professional hair care market in Germany relates to the natural space. As one of the most environmentally and health-concerned countries in Europe, Germany is also a perfect playground for natural products, which experience solid increases. The growth of the natural professional hair care products in Germany is estimated at around 10% of the total professional hair care market in 2017, up by 3% from the previous year and above the market’s average increase. Small and niche natural brands, such as Davines, Medavita, and Oolaboo, as well as major marketers, such as La Biosthetique and Aveda, along with multinationals like L’Oréal, are all seeing rich gains in the market. Increasingly, Scandinavian natural professional hair care marketers are also tapping into the German market, including Maria Nila and Gold Professional Haircare.
To learn more about the German salon hair care landscape, as well as other key markets for professional hair care products, please refer to our annual Salon Hair Care Global Series study encompassing in-depth, individual reports on 27 countries, as well as a global summary overview. These reports will help you explore the latest market shifts, key trends, new product launches, changes in the distribution channel, marketing activities, and market predictions to 2022. The series is further complemented by an online, interactive database with advanced filtering capabilities and various sales breakdowns for 2012 through 2017 by region, country, category, company, master brand/brand, segment (back-bar vs. take-home), and product type (where applicable).
Written by Marina Drobnjak, Analyst and Marcela Chifu, Senior Marketing Executive
