Niche becomes mainstream
As Asia continues to dominate innovation and influence in the beauty sphere, ‘Asianification’ has reached the UK shelves and will soon be a staple in 54 Asda stores throughout the UK.
Asda will offer a full range of exclusive halal skin care and cleansing products and will be available for purchase both in-store and online through the company’s home shopping website.
The release date of the halal product range has been scheduled ahead of June - to correspond with when Ramadan falls this year - and will feature a limited edition Eid Gift product range.
The move represents the first large retailer to bring the niche segment to the UK. The halal segment, which has seen growing popularity from Muslim millennial consumers, is now making a play for the mainstream beauty arena.
Offering the halal cosmetics range to both men and women, Asda hopes to appeal to a wide demographic.
Influence and innovation
Previously sold through independent retailers, the move marks an increase in the growing number of companies outside of the Asia adopting its trends and consumer-loved products. Asianification is marked by multiple brands throughout the US and Europe adopting key trends and market demands in their beauty industries to form niche segments.
Euromonitor International’s February 2017 report on colour cosmetics reveals that China’s cosmetics industry is booming, leading trends from Korea continue to garner global acclaim, and the growing middle class demographic in India and China is increasing sales of cosmetics throughout the continent.
As Asia becomes synonymous with innovation and creativity, the market intelligence company predicts that the continent will become the number one cosmetics market in the world by 2020, pushing North America into the second spot.
Diverse region
Asia-Pacific, on the whole, focuses on a variety of key trends and manages to create individual hubs. India, for example, is known for its colourful lip ranges and Korea, for its creative, colourful and novel elements.
The region is however, highly competitive in the facial make up sector, which witnessed 24.9% CAGR growth between 2010-2015 as consumers prioritise quality beauty solutions with protection from the environment and convenience.
Travelling overseas
E-commerce stores support digital marketing and convenient distribution channels for global partnerships that strive to learn and build on the success of Asia.
In the US, ACN has agreed to exclusively market cosmetics manufacturer Globon’s products in Asia, before expanding this to US and European market, demonstrating the sizeable opportunity attached to Asian cosmetics.
The halal cosmetics sector, for example, has started to move outside of both Asia and the Muslim sectors, with 31% of halal purchases in 2016 coming from non-Muslim consumers.
Generating Asianification
As international brands are keen to learn how Asian cosmetics are generating such large scale appeal, industry experts emphasise the importance of understanding the market and answering the needs of consumers before these are communicated and highlighted.
In-depth R&D research should identify current trends and the evolution of these to identify why Asian beauty brands are growing in popularity and presenting lucrative opportunities.
Brands need to understand the power of brand identity and brand legacy, along with innovative insights into progressive trends, in order to expand niche segments contained within Asia, such as halal cosmetics, to the wider cosmetics industry.