The ongoing COVID-19 developments have impacted the global economy in various ways. Most notably, it has influenced the consumers’ spending habits and purchase decisions.
Jacqueline Hoe, business development manager personal care, Azelis Asia Pacific, believes the impact of the outbreak will have clear and lasting change across the beauty and personal care landscape in Asia Pacific.
“The ongoing pandemic is causing drastic disruptions reshaping the personal care industry. Our sales, marketing and laboratory teams are working together to assess the trends that will emerge and the impacts that we will face,” she said.
For instance, Hoe elaborated that she expected consumer demand for colour cosmetics to dip and be replaced by personal hygiene products and skin care.
“We believe that the growth of colour cosmetics will slow down, while the traditional markets of personal hygiene and skin care will go up.”
New opportunities
With expanding sales of soap and hand cleansing products, presents personal care companies and opportunity to offer additional related benefits to consumers.
“There is an opportunity to grow by offering additional benefits to those traditional products such as antibacterial or moisturising properties, convenience, clean labelling or zero-waste,” said Hoe.
As greater numbers in society slip into social isolation and social distancing, the firm also sees a new essential rising.
Hoe explained: “Social isolation and distancing are also leading to the need of more ‘me-time’ and self-care – people want to take care of themselves, relax, and feel beautiful from the comfort of their house. Skin care solutions, spa-like moments, and beauty salon breaks at home will be essentials for consumers.”
Furthermore, the panic and anxiety caused by the pandemic would send the consumer demand for safety into overdrive.
“Proximity, transparency and trust will be key elements as consumers are much concerned about their safety,” said Hoe.
For instance, this may also cause consumers to become more particular about the quality of the personal care products they are buying.
This, said Hoe, would further boost the demand for natural beauty products.
“They are moving towards natural, holistic products. We can see that products that are preservative-, colour- and fragrance-free are becoming more popular.”
Additionally, Hoe predicts that cosmeceuticals products with bioactive ingredients purported to have medical benefits, will increase tremendously.
As the beauty and personal care market continues to change, Hoe noted that the firm was prepared to evolve along with it.
“In this changing landscape, Azelis’ primary focus will be to support our customers in all market segments, something we can easily do, thanks to our vast formulation expertise and presence of application laboratories.”
She noted that the firm had already begun new campaigns such as one on hand cleansing solutions that included full guideline formulations for hand soaps, sanitisers and moisturising creams, along with an explanation of the science behind key ingredients.
Additionally, Azelis has conducted webinars to guide the industry through these rapid market changes.
Hoe concluded: “We aim to inspire, help, and formulate tomorrow’s innovations with and for our customers. Innovation can only come to life through the passion that lies within all of us and this is something that our teams have in abundance.”