Indulgence, Claims and Innovation Trends at In-Cosmetics

By: Imogen Matthews

Posted: April 4, 2012

The Marketing Trends presentations at In-Cosmetics Barcelona, which takes place on April 17–19, 2012, provide an opportunity to discover the latest trends and issues affecting the global cosmetics industry. This article will take a look at some of the key trends that will be analyzed in more depth in the presentations.

Economic Pressure

A recurring theme throughout this year’s presentations will be how the global cosmetics industry is coping with the economic downturn. Euromonitor’s latest trend reports show that the industry is becoming more polarized between luxury beauty and the low end of the market, putting pressure on those brands occupying the middle ground.

New product development and innovation will be the way forward for stretched brands. Euromonitor predicts that brands taking a more holistic approach to product benefits and positioning, as well as those prepared to integrate completely novel concepts into their offering, will contribute to future growth of the category.

Sensory and Indulgence

Research company Datamonitor will be highlighting the “sensory and indulgence” mega-trend, which examines consumers’ desire to treat themselves and how indulgence is an enduring behavior irrespective of financial pressures. Datamonitor describe indulgences as valued distractions that allow consumers to escape from the everyday to experience some of life’s small luxuries, especially “lower-ticket” items such as beauty products.

According to Datamonitor, one of the insights to emerge from this trend is multisensory branding, which represents the latest frontier of consumer engagement for premium beauty brands. In Datamonitor’s research, sensory benefits were deemed as influential as “purchasing my favored brands,” which is significant given that skin care consumers generally tend to be brand-centric.