Although some luxury-brand items appear to be less of a priority in the coming year, its good news for the cosmetics industry as the market researcher reports 43 percent of respondents surveyed are increasing their spending on luxury cosmetics.
"We are seeing a change in spending patterns, not a drop in the desire for luxury items,” says Elan Shou, vice president of Ruder Finn Asia.
Carried out last month, the forecast features cosmetics amongst other sectors whereby 1,135 ‘luxury’ consumers who earned more than RMB 100,000 (approximately $15,651 - $31,302) annually were surveyed.
With consumers said to be cautiously planning for the year ahead, Executive Director of Ipsos, Simon Tye says despite this, they will not stop shopping, "They will just be buying different luxury items."
"Chinese consumers buy luxury products mainly to reward themselves or build confidence, as well as to reflect their taste and personality, and will continue to do so this year," says Shou.
Additionally, Ruder Finn found a major uptick in online shopping with social media playing more of an important role in influencing the consumer with an average of 10 percent of luxury goods purchased via the Internet (about 17 percent of luxury cosmetics were bought online).
"Nearly 80 percent use or intend to use social media to understand more about luxury brands and products."
Speaking of China...
Cosmetics Design is also targeting the rising demand in Asia-Pacific with the launch of a new site focused on the breaking news in the region.
CosmeticsDesign-Asia.com will be launched on September 4 2012 and will cover all the formulation, packaging and business news in the region.
The output of the new site will also focus on the key areas in the region such as market entry, regulation, animal testing, beauty from within, amongst others.