In our recently published reports—Professional Skin Care Global Series: Market Analysis and Opportunities and Physician-dispensed Skin Care: Perception and Satisfaction Survey—we learned about the ideal “prescription” that makes this $6 billion global market for professional skin care products thrive. Some of the most important key areas that skin care market players should consider are:
- Emerging markets: although small in dollar sales, they show high potential in the future.
- Medical care providers represent a tremendous distribution opportunity.
- Anti-aging is the leading skin care concern around which product sales are centered. However, it is important to know that skin care concerns vary considerably from country to country. For example, in sharp contrast to most countries, whitening is the primary skin care concern in China.
- While multinational companies lead the way, local marketers, especially in Asia, are a force to be considered.
- Medical care providers who dispense skin care products continue to largely be dermatologists and plastic surgeons. However, in most countries examined in our series, there is a shift occurring to other physician types, such as dentists, ophthalmologists, and ENTs.
Findings from our 2013 market reports show that the smaller markets we analyzed in Southeast Asia—Thailand and Indonesia—are rich with opportunity. Both of these countries experienced double-digit growth fueled by different forces. The professional skin care market in Thailand is mainly driven by spa tourism, while the main focus in Indonesia is on medical tourism. A unique and new aspect to our series was the fact that these markets have strong local brands, as well as a growing doctor dispensing segment.
With medical care providers accounting for nearly one-third of the total market share, it is important for professional skin care manufacturers to obtain a deeper understanding of this large segment, as well as what motivates the selection of such skin care brands. According to our recently completed Physician-dispensed Skin Care: Perception and Satisfaction Survey, of all the attributes we queried doctors on, customer service was the highest rated. In addition, order to delivery times was another key factor when it comes to a physician’s choice of brand selection and retention.
In our ongoing journey to discover other thriving markets, we will cover brand new markets, such as Mexico, Japan, and India, in the 2014 edition of Professional Skin Care Global Series. We are eager to find out which channels are leading the way in these markets, how they differ from those we have covered in the past, such as China and South Korea, as well as how the spa tourism market has progressed in Mexico. Last but not least, it will be interesting to see how anticipated government de-regulations will impact the dispensing market in Europe.
