European cosmetics industry is recovering, skin-friendly series are popular

Recently, market research company NPD and VKE Cosmetics Association jointly released a report on the German cosmetics industry.

The report shows that from January to September this year, German cosmetics sales decreased by 7% year-on-year. However, in the third quarter, the cosmetics industry resumed growth, increasing by 3% compared with last year.

The perfume category emerged as a clear winner, up 7% compared to last year and 4% compared to 2019. Samantha Grand, executive director of NPD Germany Beauty, said: "With social life gradually resuming, perfume is less affected by mask requirements, and local demand may also increase due to the lack of international travel, as there may be a shift in travel retail here." In addition, according to the survey, people now prefer larger bottles of perfume with higher concentration and higher quality rather than small bottles.

In contrast, the skincare category has not yet reached sales levels seen in the last two years, falling 3% compared to the previous year. Price remains a barrier for many consumers. In addition, sales are shifting from face and body care to kits and sun care, as kits offer price advantages.

Decorative cosmetics are recovering and reaching last year's sales level, but are still down 19% compared to the third quarter of 2019. Face and mouth cosmetics were severely affected by the mask requirements, but fortunately these categories are now recovering, especially beige and red lipsticks. In addition, more and more cosmetics contain skin care benefits, such as anti-aging formulas, sun protection factors, mineral /natural ingredients, etc., which also supports the growth of this category.

As for e-commerce sales, the situation is different. Between January and September, sales in online channels doubled compared to the same period in 2019. This is mainly because physical retail was severely affected by the nearly five-month lockdown from January to May. All categories grew at a double-digit rate compared to 2019, with perfume seeing the largest increase of 67%, followed by skin care and makeup. In the third quarter, the sales share of online channels fell again, but it was still much higher than the level in the third quarter of 2019. Overall, the driving force of e-commerce remains strong this year.

A while ago, NPD also released a report on the French cosmetics market. The report showed that French cosmetics sales increased by 1% from June to August 2021. During this period, total sales reached 71.4 million euros.

As economic life resumed in June 2021, more people returned to offices and cultural venues, and bars and restaurants resumed business. Against this background, color cosmetics recorded positive growth for the first time since March 2020, with sales increasing by 12% from June to August 2021 compared with the same period in 2020. Among them, the growth rate of mascara was 31%, the growth rate of powder was 28%, and the growth rate of eye shadow was 25%. Thanks to the wearing of masks, eye cosmetics, such as mascara, eyeliner, eye shadow, etc., are the main driving force for growth.

In addition, the report also mentioned that French consumers remain interested in products with skin care benefits.

It can be said that as epidemic prevention measures are relaxed, consumers will pay more and more attention to their makeup, and the cosmetics industry will also usher in a recovery.

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