BrazilSpending on (premium) skin care products in UAE above $300 million
UAE’s skin care market is expected to ride growing demand in the coming years to inch closer to the $350 million barrier by 2025, according to a new research by Glasgow Consulting Group.
Currently valued at between $320 and $330 million, the UAE’s skin care market is dominated by face care products, which account for nearly three quarters of the total market. Body care represents around one fifth of the landscape, with the remaining size of the pie distrusted across other types of skin care products.
Looking ahead to 2025, the sector is anticipated by Glasgow Consulting Group to grow at a CAGR of 1.1% to $341 million in 2025. In comparison, over the past five year period, the market grew at a faster CAGR of 2.1%.
According to the researchers, skin care market growth is slowing for two reasons. Reduced opportunities for socialising and working outside of the home during the Covid-19 lockdown – and to some extent in the ‘new normal’ – has lowered appetite for skin care.
Second, as part of a wider shift in consumer behaviour to lower non-essential spending, certain groups of consumers are more prudent on their spending. This latter effect is particularly visible in the premium segment, which is expected to see flat performance in the coming four years.
In the premium segment, anti agers will remain the largest product segment in the UAE, followed by facial moisturisers and cleansers.
One trend increasingly taking hold is consumer awareness around quality. Per Glasgow Consulting Group’s report, “increasing numbers of millennial consumers are adopting the philosophy that premium is not solely about the price tag or craftsmanship, with factors such as ecological credentials increasingly able to imbue a premium feel onto products.”
While department stores have been at the forefront of the retailing of premium and super-premium beauty and personal care products in the United Arab Emirates for decades, they are receiving growing competition from e-commerce platforms (for example: Farfetch and Ounass) and (special campaign) pop-up stores.
L’Oréal – the parent of brands such as Lancôme, Yves Saint Laurent, Lancôme La Vie est Belle – is the largest player in the premium segment, with a market share of circa 20%.
Further reading: Global cosmetics market worth €181 billion, L’Oréal dominates.
The group behind brands such as Mac, Bobbi Brown, and Tom Ford (Estee Lauder) ranks second, with Clarins hot on its heels in third place. Together with La Prairie, the top four companies hold 54% of the total market in terms of revenues.
