The global natural personal care market has been consistently flourishing; however, over the past five years, growth numbers have settled and many factors including a focus on new natural ingredients, the opening of new channels of distribution, and the general – and segment-advantageous – consumer movement demanding greater transparency in labeling. While growth within mature markets has stabilized, it remains encouragingly impressive as exemplified by a 7% increase in the United States and 6%in Europe. Other markets are managing even more promising numbers.
Sales of Natural Personal Care Products by Region, 2013
Global Sales: USD 29.5 billion, at manufacturer’s level
2013 is seeing the Chinese natural personal care market posting a mighty nearly 24% increase in sales, fueled by major economic and societal changes that have resulted in quadrupled incomes and a market expanding movement away from coastal mega-cities. With increasing disposable incomes, more Chinese consumers can now afford to become concerned of health-related issues, with the consequence of boosting the sales of natural products.
Local brands presently comprise an estimated 80%+ of the market. Notably, of these local players, those offering mostly TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) products account for approximately two-thirds of the Chinese natural personal care market.
Non-domestic, international natural brands are becoming more accepted by Chinese consumers as they are considered to include truly natural ingredients and to be of a higher quality and adhering to greater safety standards. Over the last five years, global brands such as Jurlique (2009), Kiehl’s (2009), and Origins (2010) have entered the Chinese natural personal care market and invested heavily in marketing and advertising their brands, creating a universally higher awareness of natural products among Chinese consumers. Local marketers, including Jala, the marketer of Chando as its major brand, and Jahwa’s Herborist, spurred by foreign companies and their successful initiatives, have also significantly invested in marketing their products as natural.
Kline’s imminent report on Natural Personal Care: Global Market Brief, to be published in Q4 2013, encompasses two optional in-depth companion reports, with comprehensive details and deep insights into the natural personal care markets in China and Japan.
Kline’s senior analyst Ewa Grigar, presented in Berlin this week, at the Natural Cosmetics Conference on the timely topic of Green Future: Natural Cosmetics Market in the United States. The two conference days will focus on how reality and discrepancies are becoming increasingly blurred when sustainability is concerned, how the growing natural cosmetics market is facing increasing competition from new concepts, and how the identity of natural cosmetics might be authentically presented in the future.
