The rise of the male beauty economy means beauty is no longer exclusive to women

In the past five years , the consumption behavior of millennials has shifted to niche brands that are more in line with their preferences, which has led to a significant growth in the cosmetics industry to a certain extent . The surge in social media beauty bloggers and DTC e-commerce brands has made the era of a single brand dominating the beauty market gone forever.

The change in consumption preferences of the younger generation has led to a new trend in the cosmetics industry, namely "inclusive beauty". Specifically , " male personal care " has now become a topic that people talk about with great relish after dinner .

It can be said that the prominence of personalized elements among millennials, changes in preferences , the shift toward more neutral beauty products , and the destigmatization of men’s beauty products have brought a whole new blue ocean market to cosmetics .

The rise of male beauty economy, the development prospects of "he economy" are broad

The overall market size of the men’s grooming industry has shown substantial growth since 2015 .

According to Grand   view   According to research data from the Men's Grooming Products Market (including all products worldwide), the market has grown from $47 billion in 2015 to $140.8 billion in 2020. It is expected to grow to $183.2 billion by 2027, with an annual growth rate of approximately 4%.

Overall , the global menswear market is estimated to be worth approximately US$545.8 billion in 2020. Among them, the men's beauty products market accounts for approximately 26% of the total menswear market, but since the market growth rate of men's beauty products is faster than that of the menswear industry, the men's beauty market has ample room for growth.

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In addition to market size statistics, all sub-sectors of the beauty market are also showing a growth trend. According to Trendalytics research, the work-from-home culture during the global pandemic in the past two years has also had a profound impact on the development of the men's beauty products market.

When people shifted from face-to-face offline work to cloud work through software such as Zoom, their needs also changed accordingly. According to online search data, the search volume for men's cosmetics has decreased, with men's foundation, concealer and nail polish decreasing by 4%, 24% and 16% respectively, but the search volume for men's skin care products has increased significantly:

Men's beard grooming kit: +233%;

Men's Moisturizer: +324%;

Men’s anti-aging: +42%;

Men’s skin care products: +34%.

According to CB Insights, news posts and mentions related to inclusive beauty and men’s skincare have increased since 2017, peaking in June 2020 and March of this year.

At the same time, in different sections of the foreign social news forum Reddit, discussions related to men's skin care products and cosmetics have increased a lot compared with the past, and have increased from about 60,000 members in 2019 to about 311,000 members to date, an increase of 518%.

How did the male beauty economy become popular?

The Asian market is one of the main driving forces behind the rise of the men's beauty industry. In most Asian countries, the men's skincare market has gradually matured and has been growing in recent years. Among them, South Korea is a trendsetter, contributing 20% ​​of the total male skincare consumption in 2018.

Many people attribute the popularity of Korean men's makeup and beauty products to the popularity of K-pop stars. A CNN report at the end of 2019 mentioned that 75% of Korean men have beauty treatments or treatments at least once a week.

K-pop stars often wear full faces of makeup in concerts and music videos, and many stars have signed cooperation agreements with cosmetics companies, such as Kang Daniel with Givenchy, Lee Dong Wook with Chanel, Wang Jiaer with Armani, BTS boy band with Korean beauty brand VT, etc.

The figure below is a summary list of the types of beauty products used by Korean male consumers in 2021 by Statista. From the figure, we can see that the era when men used traditional soap and straight blade razors as their main beauty products seems to be over.

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In fact, the male beauty industry in the United States is no longer limited to traditional facial cleansers, but has entered a new product level. Eye creams, facial masks, personalized sunscreens and cosmetics have become several new vertical fields that traditional and DTC companies are focusing on developing.

Since Unilever acquired the razor brand Dollar Shave Club for $1 billion in 2016, DTC brands have received widespread praise and attention from investors. Since then, there has been a lot of investment and M&A activities in this field.

2018: P&G acquires Walker & Company Brands (a beauty brand focused on people of color);

2019: SC Johnson acquires men's skincare brand Oars + Alps for approximately $20 million;

2020: American personal care products company Edgewell acquired men's grooming brand Cremo for US$235 million.

A key commonality between these brands is their ability to segment their marketing campaigns. This targeted marketing is important as the number of men interested in beauty products continues to grow. A study conducted by Morning Consult, a US polling firm, found that approximately 25% of men and 33% of men aged 18-29 would consider or be willing to use men’s cosmetics and beauty products.

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Following Morning Consult's research, CVS also launched the Stryx series of cosmetics mainly for men in 2,000 US stores for testing in 2020. CVS's move further confirmed the fact that men's cosmetics are gradually becoming the mainstream of the market.

Another reason for the growth of the male grooming market is that traditional men’s grooming products, such as shaving creams and aftershave balms, are gradually being consolidated. Although the market for these products has grown by 13% in the past five years, revenue is expected to decline by 1% in the next few years, which is another sign of shifting consumer preferences.

In addition, the promotion of gender neutrality is also a factor in this change. A study conducted by advertising research agency Bigeye showed that 50% of Generation Z believe that traditional gender roles and two-dimensional gender labels are outdated, and 56% of millennials hold the same view.

Australian cosmetics brand Aesop and natural skincare brand Ursa Major have moved away from gendered marketing and toward using packaging to sell unisex products targeting specific skin concerns or conditions, while brands such as Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford and Gucci have also launched unisex beauty products.

As consumers, mainly Generation Z and Millennials, become more and more concerned about how they look, feel, and overall social perception, it makes sense that beauty products tailored for men are becoming more popular. In 2017, Millennial consumers purchased 25% more makeup than they did two years ago. Moreover, Millennials are three times more likely than previous generations to discover new brands and products through social media.

With the popularity of the male beauty economy and the rapid development of social media, cross-border sellers may wish to try products in this category.

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