An analyst insight post from senior analyst, beauty and personal care, Oru Mohiuddin, “Brands Find Ethnic Beauty Space Worth Development” finds Euromonitor International diving into the complexities and development of products for ethnic beauty care.
Mohiuddin writes, “Mainstream brands such as Estée Lauder and Lancôme are broadening their scope to cater to ethnic consumers, demonstrating that ethnic beauty is an area that manufacturers are increasingly turning their attention to for future growth. Yves Saint Laurent has launched Le Teint Touche Éclat foundation in 22 different shades, while Lancôme’s Teint Idole Ultra 24H foundations come in 18 different shades to cater for a wider group of ethnic consumers with different skin tones. Ethnic beauty remains an unexplored area and a source of future growth, although it is too early to speculate how it will actually perform going forward. There are, however, strong indications to suggest that ethnic beauty is poised for a boom.
“Increasing numbers of ethnic shoppers have made ethnic beauty commercially viable. For example, approximately 15% of the overall population in England and Wales are non-white, up from approximately 8% in 2001, according to the 2012 census. In addition, the number of ethnic tourists in Western markets has been on the rise. For example, the number of tourists traveling from China to the U.S. rose from 400,000 to 1,600,000, while the number of tourists from Brazil to the U.S. rose from 640,000 to 1,800,000 between 2007 and 2012, representing a respective increase of 300% and 180%. One of the charms of such trips includes buying Western brands. Thus, offerings catering to ethnic consumers reach beyond ethnic residents in a given Western market to also include ethnic shopping tourists. Furthermore, trends in ethnic beauty could also be used to inspire offerings designed for mainstream consumers. For example, the currently popular skin brightening concept has been adopted from Asian markets. This further adds to the scope of profitability for ethnic beauty.
This is an excerpt from GCI magazine, Cosmetics & Toiletries sister publication for beauty business and marketing. Read the full version.