Mergers and acquisitions continue to heat up the salon hair care scene. Advent International has just announced its purchase of Olaplex, just a week after Henkel acquired DevaCurl. Our Salon Hair Care Global Series report shows that these players have been on a solid growth trajectory. It will be interesting to see how they will continue developing under their new owners. However, M&A activity is only one of the factors influencing the market, and this is reflected in our latest research on the 10 key salon hair care markets across the globe. Here are a few notable observations:
Europe
The largest region for professional hair care products continues to slow down during the first half of 2019. While challenges exist in mature markets like France, Germany, and Italy, there are pockets of success in fast-moving markets like the United Kingdom. E-commerce is one of the biggest drivers behind the market’s accelerated growth. In fact, the majority of the manufacturers we interviewed for our research claim that their sales through the e-commerce channel are in continuous expansion. A good example of expansion in e-commerce is Kérastase from L’Oréal, which shows double-digit sales growth in comparison to the first half of 2018.
The increasing demand for natural and vegan products is supporting above-average growth of the U.K. salon hair care market. Naturally positioned indie brands like Davines, Oway, and Insight show double-digit increases. The market’s attractiveness is also further reflected by the abundance of foreigner newcomers like Amika, It’s a 10 Haircare, Pulp Riot, Yellow, and Eleven.
United States
The second-largest region for salon hair care products continues to show healthy increases during the first half of 2019, driven by a continuous transformation in distribution strategy. New brands continue to launch through Amazon Salon & Spa in an attempt to curb diversion practices. In addition, an increasing number of brands started selling through the Amazon Professional Beauty Store launched in June 2019. As in the United Kingdom, the demand for natural and sustainable hair care products is highly visible in the United States. Brands that are pursuing a sustainable business approach win big in this space. On that note, Kevin.Murphy is in the process of making all of its packaging 100% from ocean waste.
Asia
While Japan witnesses moderate growth, China is going full speed ahead, accelerating at almost 7% during the first half of 2019. China’s healthy growth is supported by the good performance of all product categories, especially hair care, which is showing double-digit growth in H1 2019. E-commerce is a driving force in China but a fairly new concept in Japan. A recent trend we see in both of these Asian markets is consumers’ increased preference for premium salon hair care products, particularly shampoos and conditioners.
Latin America
Brazil, representing the smallest region for global salon hair care products, continuous to be on a fast-growing trajectory since the economic recession in 2016. Similar to other markets, the Brazilian market growth is also driven by expansion into new alternative distribution channels, namely e-commerce and brick-and-mortar.
To learn more about the professional hair market development during first half of 2019, please refer to our imminent Salon Hair Care 2019 Mid-YearData Updates. Scheduled for publication later this month, it provides brief updates on 10 key markets including the United States, Japan, China, Germany, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, Brazil, and Spain. Furthermore, don’t miss out two upcoming reports on trending salon topics: Professional Scalp Care Products: Global Market Snapshot and Professional Hair Care Retailing and Amazon Impact on the U.S. Salon Hair Care Market.
Written by Jiri Michal (Project Manager) and Marcela Chifu (Marketing Manager)
