According to figures from market researcher Kline, total US sales exceeded $41 billion at the manufacturers’ level in 2013 and are up 2.4% from 2012 levels.
Hair care and oral care are still contributing to overall market growth, but the analyst suggests that it is make-up that is producing one of the strongest performances, although there are still difficulties.
Make-up
Within the make-up product class, face make-up and lipsticks/lip glosses drive growth, supported by the stable performance of long-wearing formulations.
Kline says cheek sticks gain popularity due to their multifunctionality of use on the cheeks, lips, and eyes, while eyeliners do well to support growth in the eye make-up category.
It was not all rosy in the color cosmetics category though, as nail polishes experienced quite a setback in growth in 2013, with only flat sales after a few years of double-digit gains.
“The absence of innovation is negatively affecting growth in this highly cyclical category; despite technology advancements from marketers, maturity has started to overtake the category,” explains the market analyst.
Slowing skin care?
Over in skin care, sales have slowed down in the last 12 months, although there has been growth in the hand and body lotions category, along with men’s skin care.
Kline says the hand and body lotions category has benefitted from innovation, such as Vaseline and St. Ives introducing products in spray formats.
Although sales in the US have slowed down somewhat, anti-aging appears to be the trend that itself, will never get old, as it continues to boost the face care market, and consumers are beginning to have realistic expectations of topical products as limitations are understood.
In turn, Kline vice president Consumer Products, Carrie Mellage, told CosmeticsDesign.com USA that this knowledge is one of the reasons for the booming device category.
Mellage explains that recently, cleansers have become gentler so that they can be used with electronic cleansing devices and this is a market being seized upon by the big players; whilst products targeting men also present lucrative selling opportunities for marketers.
Bright future
Kline predicts that due to the continued growth in critical markets and product classes, the cosmetics market will see renewed growth long into the future, as brands adapt to the ever-changing needs of the consumer.
“Although economic instability has inhibited the industry in recent years, the improving global economy will ameliorate the faults of years past,” says an analyst blog.
“Alongside such renewed economic confidence, the innovations to products and growing multi-purpose functionality will only be beneficial to the industry for the foreseeable future.”