Kantar Worldpanel tracked the shopping behaviour of 3,000 Filipino homes in urban and rural areas across the country from June 2014 to 2015, finding that 15 out of the 21 categories of products that fall under the personal care segment, grew by at least 5 per cent.
According to analysts, 'Class E' homes are now open to buying more sophisticated personal care products. In addition, the penetration of key personal care products increased significantly with 720,000 more homes buying liquid soap and 611,000 more homes purchasing cosmetics.
“This growth is a clear manifestation of the Filipino shoppers’ high regard for hygiene and beauty products,” says Lourdes Deocareza, New Business Development Head at Kanter.
“In fact, within personal care, we’ve found that Filipinos are prioritizing skin care products, hair care products and oral care. In addition, they are also spending more on rising categories namely, wipes, colognes, diapers and deodorants.”
Winning channels
Over this period, Sari-sari stores played a significant role in the rise of personal care spending, accounting for 35 per cent of personal care sales, followed by the modern trade channels (composed of supermarkets and hypermarkets) with 34 per cent of sales.
Grocery stores were the 3rd biggest channel for personal care sales, with 7.7 per cent total market share of personal care sales in country.
Meanwhile, direct sales channels and drug stores enjoyed 6.5 per cent and 5.8 per cent shares of total personal care sales, respectively.
“The increasing interest of Filipino shoppers in personal care does not come as a surprise. This growth is a reflection of the aggressive push of FMCG players to market their products in various platforms, including digital media,” Deocareza explained.